Earthbound 3 Mother 4: Prelude to War
by Enterprise F
Summary: After his return home, Ness embarks on a search for his friends and family, who disappeared from Ness's home during the alien attack. Part 2 of 4
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Earthbound/Mother is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it. Nintendo does. It and all of its characters in the games were created by Shigesato Itoi. This story is not for profit.

Earthbound 3/Mother 4

Prelude to War

Chapter 1:

Back in the year 200X The Phase Distorter reappeared in Onett just outside Ness's house approximately one and a half days after his departure. A few moments after reappearing in Onett, the hatch to the Phase Distorter opened. Ness stepped down from the craft and began to walk towards his house when he sensed something appear behind him. A loud explosion then sounded as an explosion erupted from the Phase Distorter, spraying debris and shrapnel into Ness's face. Ness raised a shield over his body to protect him from the metallic shards that had been flung towards him by the explosion, his shield flaring with each hit the shards scored. Still, his shield shrugged off the assault effortlessly. Behind the now ruined wreck that was all that remained of the Phase Distorter, Ness saw a Starman Junior, being flanked by four human skateboarders, all in tight formation with the Starman Junior. They looked like more Shark gang members, if the shark fins on top of the helmets of the skateboarders was any indication.

The Starman Junior quickly went on the offensive, launching a blast of PSI Freeze Alpha at Ness. The snowflake of freezing psychic energy was small and in the time that it took for the snowflake to cross the distance between the Starman Junior and Ness, Ness was several yards away from the snowflake. The snowflake of psychic energy exploded in an icy blast of icicles and snowflakes. Ness, however, was far enough away that suffered no injury from the attack. The Starman Junior would be easy enough for Ness to deal with with a single blast of PSI Rockin Beta. The problem was, though, that if he used that attack, the human servants of the Starman Junior would be caught in the blast as well, and Ness was almost certain that they were being mind controlled by the Starman. Most of the rank and file human servants of Giygas had been under mind control; he suspected the same with the PSI Aliens as well.

As a result, Ness decided to use PSI Flash at its Beta level. Ness emitted a light blue pulse of energy, surrounded by small lightning sparks and blue orbs of electricity and targeted the other enemies with it. As it streaked towards the enemy forces, the ball of psychic energy grew in size. The ball quickly arrived at the Starman Junior, who had been stupid enough to not try to evade the attack, and detonated in a flash of blue light. The flash encompassed the entire party of enemies. The Starman Junior was instantly killed by the blast of PSI Flash. As Ness saw him die he suddenly remembered that the Beta form of Flash still had a one in eight chance of causing instant death to its target. He soon scanned the enemies that were surrounding the fallen Starman Junior. Two of them were crying uncontrollably, tears streaming down their faces as if they were literally crying a river. A third Skate Punk was feeling strange, and promptly bashed one of his crying comrades with his skateboard, knocking the unfortunate Skate Punk unconscious. The fourth Shark gang member had fallen to the ground, unable to move due to his newfound paralysis.

"Uh, guys, a little help here," the paralyzed Skate Punk called out pathetically. This only prompted the confused Skate Punk to bash him on the head with his skateboard, knocking him unconscious.

All the while, Ness had to suppress laugh at the humorous scene that had unfolded in front of hum. It was not long before the remaining crying Skate Punk tried to defend himself against his confused comrade by trying to attack him. His attempts to bash his confused comrade met with no success since his crying was blurring his vision. Ness just continued to walk past the remaining punks, letting them deal with each other as he went towards his house.

He quickly went around back to see if anyone was around. Just as he suspected, no one was present, not even King. However, there had been signs of the party. He went over to the grill, which was now stained with cooked meat juices and burnt charcoal sitting beneath the metal grill plate. Toys and food items were located in some parts of the yard, but it did look like someone had cleaned up, at least a bit. He had a bad feeling that the beam that had washed over him and his friends likely managed to get anyone else that was at the party as well. The question was, though, that if no one he knew was in the past, then where were they? He opened his mind to see if Paula was trying to send a telepathic message to him. While Ness had no active telepathy, he could receive telepathic messages from other psychics and could hear the thoughts of animals. He knew that he was about to go on another adventure. That meant that he would have to properly equip himself for the task that he was about to undergo. He then proceeded to make his way back to the front and he entered the house.

Inside his house, Ness quickly went over to where he had stored his birthday presents. There he found the baseball bat that had been autographed by Hank Aaron, the Star Pendant from Poo, and the Brain Food Dinner that was another present from Poo. He stuffed the Brain Food Dinner into his backpack and replaced his normal baseball bat with the Legendary Bat that had been signed by Hank Aaron. He then draped his Star Pendant around his neck. Without being able to raise psychic shields, the Star Pendant would be an invaluable item to have on this adventure. He then went over to the refrigerator and opened the door. Inside he found a steak. He promptly took it and put it inside his backpack next to the Brain Food Dinner. After he was finished there, he went up to his room. Inside, he went over to his dresser and opened it. Inside he found the final two items that he needed in order for his next adventure to begin. First, he took out his Combat Yo-yo and placed it in his pocket. Next he took out a round badge with a lightning bolt on it. This was the all too familiar Franklin Badge. He quickly slapped the Franklin Badge on his shirt over his chest, where it stuck without a problem. With the Franklin Badge equipped, any lightning attack, psychic or otherwise, would be reflected back at the attacker. Once he was finished gathering supplies, weapons, and items, Ness headed back downstairs. Before leaving, Ness went over to the dresser in the living room and took out his ATM card. He would need that to withdraw money from the bank so that he could buy more useful weapons, items, and medicines should he need them. He then proceeded to leave the house.

Back outside, Ness decided that the best thing to do would be to ask his neighbors, the Archers, about what had happened, and to see if they had seen any of Ness's friends or family since the incident. He went over to the house, which had previously been occupied by Porky Minch and his family, and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked again. Again, there was no answer. He then waited for a few minutes before knocking again. Still, there was no answer. Either the neighbors were not home or they, too, had been swept up into the strange beam that had sent Ness to the past.

Ness turned around to leave and standing before him was Captain Strong, the Police Chief of the Onett Police Force. Strong took a step back when he saw Ness, and had he not been wearing sunglasses, Ness would have seen his eyes go wide in surprise. "Ness!" he exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Yeah," Ness said nervously. "I am."

"Where were you? What happened after the UFO crashed and that beam washed over you?"

"In all honesty, I think that the truth would be stranger than fiction," Ness replied. He then decided to tell Captain Strong, "I was sent into the past. I only recently managed to find my way back here. How much time has passed since my disappearance?"

"A day and a half," Strong answered.

"Who else disappeared?"

"You, your family and pet, Paula Polestar and her parents, Jeffery Andonuts and his parents, and that Poo kid and his parents all disappeared," Strong answered. "Surprisingly, no one else vanished that day. Frank Fly and a few others stayed to try to clean up, but they were driven off by a new Shark street gang."

"The Sharks?" Ness asked in surprise. "I thought my friends and I handled them just before the UFOs appeared."

"Well, there's more of them. A lot more," Strong told Ness in a serious tone. "Our police force is up to its ears in reports of break-ins, muggings, theft, acts of vandalism, and even some attempted murders. Fortunately, so far, the most they've done is the _attempted_ murders." It was evident in Captain Strong's voice, though, that in his mind, the only difference between attempted murder and outright murder was the fact that one failed due to the criminal's incompetence or resistance of the victim, and the other, unfortunately, was successful.

Ness looked down at the ground and sighed. Ever since the new mayor, Ahn S. Tee had taken office, the police force of Onett had a drastic rise in competence and arrests. They had managed to take gangs off the streets and put them in lockup, where they belonged. If the Sharks were truly back, and not just the rabble that Ness and his friends had fought a day and a half ago, then this could spell trouble.

"Take care if you plan on searching for your friends," Strong told Ness. "The Sharks may not be all that dangerous to someone like you," Strong had a feeling that Ness was much stronger now than he was when the two of them had fought three years ago, "but there have been reports of strange craft appearing over towns like Twoson and Threed. I've even heard rumors that strange occurrences are happening as far away as Ellay and Mount Itoi."

"I can handle myself," Ness assured the captain.

"I know you can," Strong replied. "Just don't get too cocky."

"I won't."

"Oh, and if you were looking for the Archers, they went away for a small trip. They'll be back in a day or two, I think."

With that, Strong went on his way. Still, Ness no longer needed the Archers' help for any information. He knew what he needed to do. His first item of business was to go into town and stock up on any supplies that he did not acquire from his home. To be able to do that in a timely manner, he would need to get his bicycle. He went to the garage and found that his bicycle was missing. He proceeded to search the yard, but he could not find it. He figured that it had been stolen by the new Sharks. Seeing no other alternative, he began to trek into town on foot.

It took him a lot longer to enter town than it normally would, but he did not mind the exercise. After twenty minutes of walking, Ness found himself in downtown Onett. He quickly hurried over to the Burger Shop and entered. Upon entering, Ness saw that the shop was largely deserted. That did not surprise him given the events of the last day and a half. Checking his watch, he found that it was still only two o'clock. Still, there were some customers sitting at a couple of tables, enjoying their meals. Inside he saw the reformed former leader of the Sharks, Frank Fly, standing at the counter. Upon seeing Ness, Frank called out happily, "Hey Ness, you're back! When that beam washed over you and your friends and family and you disappeared, I thought the worst. However, since you're back, it seems as if there's hope for everyone else who disappeared as well."

"That's what I'm hoping for," Ness said.

"So, what brings you in today?" Frank asked.

"I'm here for a few hamburgers," Ness answered.

"Well, you're in luck," Frank proclaimed. "For today, we got a new item on our menu. It's a Mega Double Burger Meal. The hamburger twice as large as the normal Double Burger with whatever condiments you want on it, and it also comes with a pack of mustard, a pack of ketchup, and two salt packets for condiments at no additional charge. It also includes a large bag of fries and a large soda or other drink all for ten dollars."

Ness grinned at the sales pitch. The packs of ketchup, mustard, and salt would come in handy for making the burgers and other foods recover more health. He decided to buy four such meals. Ness got his burgers with only bacon and mustard. After paying Frank, he waited for the burgers to be finished before stuffing them in his backpack. As he turned to leave, he heard Frank call, "Thanks, come again." This was great. Ness could eat one of these meals if he got too badly injured and save his Brain Food Dinner for a time of emergency.

Upon leaving the Burger Ship, Ness went up north and walked along the street for a few minutes and headed towards the Onett Public Library. He hoped to find out some information on what happened to George and Maria. On the way, he was stopped by two Shark gang members who wore black uniforms with black shark fins on top of their heads. They jumped out in front of him drawing guns from their jackets, pointing said guns at Ness, laughing.

"Give us your backpack kid, or else…" they threatened. To show that they meant business, one of the Sharks fired at Ness's feet. A loud bang sounded as the Shark fired. The bullet ricocheted off the pavement a few inches away from Ness's feet, causing a spark at the point of impact. Ness did not have time for losers like these and used his newly refined telekinetic abilities to yank the guns out of their hands. Ness caught the guns in midair and quickly took aim at the now defenseless Sharks. The two gang members, with eyes wide and mouths hanging open promptly fainted from fright at the sight of Ness. Ness then took the time to grab the two gang members and take a quick detour to the police station, where he dropped off the gang members, turned in their guns, and made a statement for Captain Strong. All of that took about an hour.

Once that minor nuisance had been dealt with, Ness headed back towards the library. This time, the Sharks that he noticed hiding in the shadows on his way to the library did their best to stay out of sight of Ness. Word of Ness's exploits had reached them quickly. After a few minutes of walking, Ness reached the library. He then promptly entered the library and scanned its directory, searching for the UFO/Ghost haunting/Unsolved and unexplained mysteries sections. He did not think that George or Maria's exploits would be seen in any reputable history books. He found that such sections were on the third floor of the library. He promptly searched for an elevator and upon finding one, he rode it to the third floor.

Upon reaching the third floor of the library, he disembarked from the elevator and searched for the UFO casebook section of the library. Upon finding it, he searched every UFO book for information on George and Maria's abduction and its aftermath. After over an hour of searching, he found a book with a promising title. The book was titled: _Unexplained UFO Mysteries. Are Aliens out to get us?_ Ness scanned the book and soon found an entry on George and Maria. The section read: _In the early 1900's a shadow descended upon the small town of Podunk in rural America. A young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home. The man's name was George, his wife, Maria. Some witnesses say they saw a saucer-like object hovering in the sky above their home on the night of their disappearance. They also said that they heard the sound of gunfire. _

_When the police investigated, they were quick to seal off the house to any and all potential buyers and private investigators. Many residents of Podunk said that George and Maria had been abducted by aliens, and that George had managed to kill one of the abducting aliens during the struggle. Records of what happened were never revealed. All that was said was that George and Maria vanished without a trace._

_Two years later, as suddenly as he had vanished, George returned to Podunk once more. Upon his return, though, he secluded himself and began an odd study all alone, one that took him close to the summit of Mount Itoi, a place already full of mystery. He never once told anyone where he had been or what he had done. As for Maria, she never returned._

_However, seven years after George's return, there is evidence that an animal watcher found a UFO taking off from a small shed on Mount Itoi. They also found two people, possibly alien, and three what appeared to be robots entering the shed before the craft left. A day later, rumors abounded that George had been seen at a cabin on Mount Itoi with a woman who greatly resembled his wife, Maria. Some claimed that it was, indeed, Maria, rescued from whoever had kidnapped her nine years before. However, George was still highly reclusive after Maria's supposed return. Still, there are records of George and a woman named Maria having descendants, so it is highly likely that the woman seen with George was, indeed, his wife Maria._ It ended there.

Ness then read other accounts inside the book. He found that several of them were highly similar to the account of George and Maria. He then continued to read and he found another promising, and quite possibly disturbing entry: _In the late 1980's, UFOs appeared over the town of Podunk once more. Strange occurrences also happened in the previously quiet town. A boy named Ninten went out on a journey, though, and many say that he and his friends, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy single-handedly pushed back an alien invasion. Rumors had it that Mount Itoi, the previous home to George and Maria, Ninten's ancestors, was the home base of the alien force. Still, besides anecdotal evidence of battles against UFOs and men in gray suits with visors and tentacle-like arms, there was no real proof of any alien invasion._ Ness knew, though, that there must have been some invasion. After all, the description of the men who had fought Ninten matched normal Starmen to a tee. _So that's twice they were beaten back by humans_, Ness thought. Ness had feeling that the PSI Aliens were back and that they would not leave until they had done what they failed to do twice before: destroy humanity.

Ness then closed the book and put it back on the shelf. His resolve to find his friends and put this alien menace to rest once and for all was stronger than ever. And he had a feeling that he would have to find them quickly. He quickly went down to the first floor of the library and exited.

Outside the library, he was confronted by two Pogo Punks and two Yes Men Juniors. The Pogo Punks hopped forward on their pogo sticks and proclaimed, "Hey, kid. We've got a message for you from the big boss man. He thinks that it would be really wise for you to keep your nose out of his business. He ain't too pleased with two of his best men bein' arrested for attempted murder and felony weapons violations. So here's his ultimatum. You stay out of his business, and you and your family will get to live to see tomorrow."

Ness did not have time for this nonsense. He quickly began to walk past them when the Pogo Punks hopped in to cut him off. "Hey, where ya goin' kid?" the lead Pogo Punk asked snarkily.

"I was going somewhere. Somewhere where you are not," Ness replied.

The Pogo Punks approached Ness while one of the Yes Men Juniors said, "Yeah, well you see, we don't exactly believe you when you say that you're goin' somewhere. For all we know, you could be goin' ta see the boss, not that I'd recommend it."

"Look, I just want to leave the library without any trouble from you," Ness exasperatedly.

The four punks merely laughed. "Heh, heh, heh. Not gonna happen, kid." The four punks then went on the offensive, with the Yes Men Juniors calling in for some backup. Backup arrived in the form of three more Pogo Punks and two Yes Men Juniors, one of them being a Yes Woman Junior.

Ness merely sighed as he extended his right hand out in front of him. With a blast of telekinetic energy, Ness sent the entire troop of gang members flying through the air. They flew for a few yards before landing in a heap not too far away from Ness, sliding on the ground after impact and then skidding to a halt. Ness then walked past the fallen gang members ignoring the fact that they were still alive. As he passed, the Sharks gasped in fear and dread. They then thanked whatever divine power they worshipped when Ness did not look down at them and pound them into the pavement as he passed. Each of the Sharks then decided that it was time to start looking for a new career.

Ness continued further into town and on the way he encountered more Sharks. These consisted of two Skate Punks and four Yes Men Juniors. The Skate Punks, however, were armed this time with more guns, as were the Yes Men Juniors. The criminals drew out their weapons and trained them on Ness. Ness instinctively raised a counter shield over his body and waited for them to fire. The lead Skate Punk was the first to shoot. The gun muzzle flashed as the punk fired on Ness. The bullet struck Ness's shield, causing it to flare for an instant, before being reflected back at the punk. The bullet struck the Skate Punk in the arm and the punk recoiled and cried out in pain, dropping his gun. Two other punks opened fire on Ness as well with the same result. Only they fared much worse, one being struck in the kneecap by his reflected fire and the other being hit in the lower right abdomen. Both punks fell to the floor, the one shot in the leg crying out and writhing in agony. The one who was shot in the abdomen simply fell to the ground in a heap, all of them bleeding. The remaining three punks promptly fled the scene, dropping their weapons. At first, Ness was tempted to simply walk away from the scene. After all, the punks had initiated combat against him. However, his compassion got the better of him and he walked over to the injured gang members. Upon reaching them, his eyes glowed as he used Lifeup on each of the fallen punks in order to heal them. The bullets were practically ejected from their bodies and their wounds closed, the lost blood retreating back into their bodies. Each punk gasped as they were healed by Ness. After Ness was certain that they would not try to kill him, he left them to go and return to their homes, hoping that they would leave the gang.

As Ness was leaving, though, one of the punks took aim at Ness. As if sensing this, Ness turned around and shook his head. "Don't do it," he warned the punk. "My counter shield is still up. You'll only end up hurting yourself, or worse."

The punk did not listen to Ness's warning, though, as he took aim at the young psychic. "No, don't do it idiot!" one of his comrades cried. He did not listen, though. He tried to pull the trigger to shoot Ness, but before he could do so, Ness used his telekinesis to knock the gun out of the punk's hand. He then snapped the wrists of the punk to make sure that the punk would not be so stupid so as to try to get the gun again and challenge Ness once more. The punk cried out in pain as his wrists were broken, but Ness did not care about his pain. Broken wrists would eventually heal. Death was much less reversible, especially should the brain be physically damaged in the process. Ness then continued on his way into town, leaving the wailing punk on the ground. He began searching for the arcade. That was the hideout of the Sharks when Frank Fly had been in charge of them. He knew that it would detour him from his current mission, but it would also be a good opportunity for him to not only train in his improved control over his powers, but he could also get rid of a newly re-formed and powerful gang.

It did not take him long to find the arcade. He quickly entered the arcade and scanned his surroundings. The arcade was practically a maze in and of itself. The walls and floor were lined with arcade games of various types. The popular Y-Men arcade game and Mars Strikes…Again game were quickly visible. There were all types of arcade games, pinball games, skeeball games and other games. Ness also noticed the dozen or more Sharks that were stationed in building. Upon seeing Ness, they quickly all turned towards him. Evidently news of his exploits had already reached the rest of the gang. It was not long before the rest of the gang drew their guns and knives and all began to point them at Ness. Still, they were no threat to Ness. To him, they may as well have been ants compared to him. With a single thought, Ness sent them flying in all directions. The gang members crashed into the wall, various arcade games, and even into each other. They then fell into heaps and remained there on the floor, wisely not getting up to challenge Ness further. Ness quickly searched for the door to the back yard of the building where Ness had confronted Frank Fly and his robot, Frankystein Mark II. The door was located at the back of the room. It opened and two Sharks entered into the arcade. Ness quickly saw that they were armed with AK-47s. For a brief instant, Ness wondered how a gang like the Sharks managed to get their hands on AK-47s. That thought quickly changed to a need to get out of their line of fire and raise a shield of some sort over his body before they pumped him full of lead. Ness dove to the floor as the two Sharks opened fire on him. The sound of machine gun fire echoed throughout the arcade as the two gang members fired on Ness. In the instant he had dodged the first volley of fire, he managed to also raise a shield over himself. The second volley managed to find Ness, but his shield protected him, flashing as the bullets bounced off of the shield. The two Sharks soon produced small orbs. Ness quickly realized that they were bombs. He covered his ears to protect his hearing as they tossed the bombs at him. The bombs landed right next to him and exploded, bombarding him with shrapnel. His shield, however, held against the assault, his covering of his ears saving his hearing. Ness then quickly responded with a psychic shove to the two gang members. He pile-drove them into the wall, where he could hear their ribcages crack and shatter due to the force with which he struck them. They soon fell to the floor in a heap. Ness then yanked the guns out range of two fallen Sharks. He then slowly and confidently walked over to the door and opened it. Outside would be the leader of the Sharks, and whatever other weapons that he possessed.

Indeed, outside the arcade, in the back yard, stood the new leader of the Sharks. The man was wearing a business suit with a purple jacket with a gray helmet with a shark fin and gray glasses. He looked just like a Major Psychic Psycho, only his clothes did not look like they were on fire. Next to the Sharks leader was a robot that looked frighteningly like Frankystein Mark II. It had the brown tank body for its lower half and a humanoid figure for its top with gray arms. Smoke was emerging from its tail pipe and a flag-like shark fin was trailing it on the back of its head. The Sharks leader took one look at Ness and said, "So, you're the one that that has been clobbering my minions. My master won't be pleased with that at all. And now, you've made your real mistake: taking me on. Or should I say, _us_…"

It was then that the Sharks leader launched his first attack. A fireball formed in his right hand, which he promptly hurled towards Ness. "PSI Fire Gamma!" the Sharks leader cried out as his suit transformed into what Ness remembered as being psychic flames. That cemented in Ness's mind that this was, indeed, a Major Psychic Psycho. Ness scrambled to get out of the way of the fireball, while simultaneously forming his own ball of PSI Rockin. The ball of PSI Fire Gamma exploded a ways away. Still, the explosion managed to catch Ness and singe him. However, he was not badly burned and the injury that he took was not debilitating. He promptly responded by unleashing his Rockin against the Major Psychic Psycho before remembering that Major Psychic Psychos could raise PSI Shield Omegas. It was Ness's lucky day, though, for the Major Psychic Psycho had not thought to raise a psychic counter shield over himself and his robot ally. The ball of Rockin collided with him and exploded, engulfing him and his robot ally in a red sphere of psychic energy. The Major Psychic Psycho cried out in anger and pain as Ness's ball of Rockin burned him. He soon cried out, "Frankystein Mark IV, get him!" After that, he passed out and Ness dissipated the attack, wanting to make sure that he did not kill the man. Now, all Ness had to do was deal with the robot, who had also taken damage from Ness's Rockin. Ness knew that the robot was no match for him, though. He raised a counter shield over himself and simply waited for the robot to attack. The robot promptly attacked by opening its chest and disgorging a Multi Bottle Rocket right at Ness. As the small missiles struck Ness's shield, the shield flared before bouncing the missiles back at the robot. The robot made no attempt to evade the missiles that were streaking towards it, not that that would have done the robot any good. The missiles collided with the robot and detonated, their shaped charges directing a large portion of the explosions directly at the robot. Each missile in and of itself was insufficient to destroy the robot, but with all of the small missiles striking it, the robot fell to the withering storm of missiles in no time. With each impact and detonation, the robot spewed shrapnel and bled smoke. Upon the final missile's impact and detonation the robot exploded in a spectacular display of fireworks. Frankystein Mark IV was defeated.

After the battle, Ness walked over to the Major Psychic Psycho, who had just recently regained consciousness. Ness leaned down to check on the man's condition. His clothes had stopped burning and his helmet had been removed, so Ness guessed that he was back to normal. The Sharks leader looked up at Ness and was startled. He gave a yelp and he tried to back away.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Ness said, startled by his reaction.

The man soon calmed down and after looking around at his surroundings he asked, "Where am I?" It was not long before he asked another, and more pertinent question, "Who am I?"

"Who you are I can't answer," Ness responded. "Where you are, however, I can. You are in the back of the Onett Arcade."

"What am I doing here?" was the Sharks leader's next question.

"You were the leader of the Sharks," Ness replied. "At least that's what you were likely programmed to believe. What's the last thing you remember?"

The man thought for a moment. "I remember being in Twoson. I was investigating what those flying saucers were. I got close to one of the saucers. I guess I was detected. Some strange beam hits me and then I find myself here talking with you."

That cinched it for Ness. The man had been under mind control. His defeat at Ness's hands had likely been what returned him to normal. "Have I done anything bad?" the man asked.

"I don't know," Ness replied. "You were the new leader of the Sharks, a street gang, though, so you may have done something." He then looked at the man. "You said Twoson, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you see a girl named Paula Polestar there?"

"Paula? You know Paula?" the man asked, his face bursting with excitement.

"Uh, yeah," Ness said hesitantly. "So, have you seen her?"

"No," the man replied in a tone that made it seem unusual. "At least, I don't think so. The appearance of those flying saucers spooked me, though. I could have missed her if she arrived there."

"Thanks," Ness said, making his voice sound appreciative. "You should get out of here. You don't want to be caught by the police. The Sharks have been giving them nightmares."

"Yeah, got it," the man said. He then proceeded to rise and leave the area going back inside the arcade. After resting for a few moments, Ness went back into the arcade to get out of the yard. Inside he found that the Sharks had left entirely. Ness smiled to himself. Once again, he had single-handedly taken down the Sharks. And he had freed an innocent man from mind control in the process. He then made his way towards the exit to the arcades. Next up on his journey would be Twoson.

He walked south along the street for a few minutes until he found the forest that led to Twoson. Knowing that his best bet for finding out what was going on, and for finding his friends and family was in Twoson, he made his way to the hometown of his best friend, Paula Polestar.

Inside the headquarters of the Neo Happy Happy Cult, Giygas stared at the monitor. On the screen, he watched as two Starmen strapped a struggling Paula Polestar down to a table. Immediately, one of the Starmen burst into flames. Giygas shrugged. That was the fourth Starman he had lost today. The remaining Starman was soon assisted by four humans, two of them with lecherous grins on their faces as they stroked her cheeks and whispered something into her ear that Giygas did not catch. Giygas almost recoiled at the scene. Perverts. Their perversion was quickly punished when their hair involuntarily stood on end as they convulsed due to being electrocuted by Paula focusing a PSI Thunder attack on herself just to fry her tormenters. The Starman was not too seriously hurt, which was more than could be said for the human perverts, who were fried to a crisp. These unfortunate souls did not have the excuse of being under mind control like the other two Paula electrocuted did. It was not surprising that those under mind control survived her defense, while the perverts' bodies were still smoking due as a result of their electrocution. He could see Paula almost grin at the camera. The psychic attacks continued on her, but her mind was quite strong and she was fighting back.

A Starman Super soon walked in on Giygas and took one look at the monitor. "Master, her conversion is costing us dearly. We don't have enough cultists and willing human servants to keep her contained. She is resisting our psychic assaults and has already killed several Starmen and even a few Starman Supers during the attempts to brainwash her. We may just have to go with Plan B."

Giygas thought about the implications. He did not like Plan B. The armor could control her actions, and the machines that would be hooked up to her brain would allow them to control her psychic powers, but it would not be the same as if she were serving them directly, even under some form of mind control. She would not be a very effective soldier for the PSI Lords if she were nothing more than a shambling zombie with psychic powers. Still, it was better than nothing.

It was not long before a Starman Deluxe came through the door to make a report. "Master, the Major Psychic Psycho we brainwashed a day ago has ceased transmitting. The last images were of him fighting a human psychic. We also lost contact with a Starman Junior earlier in the day when he went to investigate the appearance of a Phase Distorter. The Phase Distorter that appeared matches the Phase Distorter that George and Maria used to escape us over eighty Earth years ago. A witness to the scene also saw the battle between the Starman Junior with his Shark minions and the human psychic."

The Starman then produced a small data pad. Upon pushing a button, a holographic display came to life. It showed Onett merely a few hours ago. The image showed the Phase Distorter appearing in front of the house where they had fought those psychics and scientists two days ago. Giygas then saw the hatch to the Phase Distorter open and a human figure emerge. Giygas's eyes went wide as he saw that the person that had emerged was one of the humans that had appeared at the house. "The human's name is Ness," the Starman told Giygas as he watched Ness defeat the Starman Junior and his Shark cohorts without even breaking a sweat.

"There is more," the Starman Deluxe continued. "We scanned the residual psychic energy present at the scene. While it seems to be a more refined version of the energy that was used to destroy the R7037s during George and Maria's escape, it is definitely the same energy. I believe that we are seeing the same person that helped George and Maria escape."

Giygas did not have to speak to confirm the suspicion of the Starman Deluxe. He knew from the moment he saw Ness emerge from the Phase Distorter that the one who had helped George and Maria was that boy. Giygas was then interrupted by the Starman Super. "Master, have you decided what to do about Paula Polestar? She is rejecting all attempts of reprogramming. Should we have her killed?"

Giygas's eyes then went wide again, but not with shock or fear. Instead, an idea came to him. "No," he said in answer to the Starman Super's question. "I have another use for her." He then gave a pause as he looked at the monitor and saw Paula continuing to resist the Starmen's attempts to mind control her. "Looks like Plan B just became Plan A," he said with a sinister grin.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

It was not very long before Ness emerged from the tunnel that connected Onett to Twoson. When Ness arrived in Twoson, he found that externally, the town was no different than he remembered from his previous visits. However, even before stepping into the town proper, Ness could tell that something was wrong. He looked up into the sky and found that the airspace over Twoson was now crawling with UFOs. What was worse was the fact that several of the UFOs looked pretty big, almost twice the size of Ness's house. They were flying distinct patterns over the town, as if they were on patrol. Ness knew that the moment that he had spotted the alien craft that they had almost certainly spotted him as well. However, they did not make any suspicious moves that indicated that they had spotted Ness. Ness then turned his gaze into town. There, he saw several people walking along the street inside of Twoson. He could easily identify a New Age Retro Hippie, a Cranky Lady, two Unassuming Local Guys, and a Ramblin' Evil Mushroom, a pink and white polka-dotted mushroom with two legs for a stem. Ness remembered from his earlier encounters with the Mushroom three years ago that they could mess with his equilibrium and motor skills if they managed to spray their spores in him and "Mushroomize" him. He thought it odd to see such an enemy inside of Twoson proper. Still, he knew what he had to do to get past them and that they would not let him pass without a fight. And they did not.

Ness quickly went on the offensive by launching a blast of PSI Flash at its Alpha level. He did not want to kill the New Age Retro Hippie or the Cranky Lady. He knew that they were under the influence of the aliens that were invading Twoson. He, too, was beginning to feel their influence on the surroundings. The pulsing ball of sparkling green energy streaked towards the cadre of enemies and detonated. The results of the attack were that the Unassuming Local Guys, New Age Retro Hippie, and Cranky Lady began to cry uncontrollably while the Ramblin' Evil Mushroom began to feel strange. As a result of its strange feelings, it Mushroomized the Cranky Lady, and soon, she began to move all over the place, as if she were a robot whose motor programming had gotten scrambled. Ness quickly rushed towards the Ramblin' Evil Mushroom and, drawing out his Legendary Bat, bashed the mushroom on its top. The Ramblin' Evil Mushroom fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead, while Ness quickly used his telekinesis to cause the other enemies to collide with each other. The collisions managed to bring them back to their senses and they were then back to normal. Ness did not stick around to talk to them, though. He wanted to see what was going on inside Twoson. It was then that he heard a voice in his mind: _Ness, is that you?_ Ness instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Paula.

Ness instantly replied, "Yes," out loud, despite the fact that Paula had been communicating telepathically. Ness, not being able to send telepathic thoughts directly, could only hope that Paula could pick up his thoughts when he spoke. "Where are you?"

_That's not important right now_," Paula replied telepathically. _What's important is that you get out of here, now. This is all a trap. Giygas knows you're here, and he knows your power._

The revelation of Giygas's name shocked Ness. "Giygas? Did you say Giygas?" he almost stammered.

_Yes, I did. It appears as if Giygas, or some part of him, is still alive, in one form or another. I do know, though, that this Giygas is __not__ the Universal Cosmic Destroyer, though. Still, he's too powerful for us to face right now. What's worse is that he's not alone. He has an army with him. Please, get out of here before you're detected. You can rescue me, if I don't escape on my own, once you find Jeff and Poo._

With that, Ness felt the link fade away. He knew what he had to do, even though Paula had stated that she did not want his help in rescuing her yet. While Paula had made it sound like the trap was the fact that she was a prisoner, Ness could feel that it was not just that. They were doing something to Paula. She did not have long. She had to be saved as soon as possible. He did not have time to find Jeff and Poo, if he could even find the two of them. With all of that going through his mind, Ness knew what he had to do. Despite Paula's telepathic warning, he went on.

Before continuing, though, he looked for a place to rest where he could gather his thoughts and formulate a plan to save her. He quickly took stock of his inventory. He still had the Frozen Steak, four Mega Double Burger Meals, with the condiment packs, and the Brain Food Dinner. Those healing items, combined with his Franklin Badge and Star Pendant for defense, and his Legendary Bat and Combat Yo-yo for offense, meant that he was equipped to take on anything that the PSI Aliens and possibly Giygas was going to send at him.

Next, Ness had to formulate a plan of attack. Unless Giygas himself, if it really was Giygas that had captured Paula, confronted him directly, Ness was confident that he could defeat any other opponent the aliens could throw at him in single combat short of a PSI Alien, and that was only because he did not know the strength of individual PSI Aliens. Still, Ness would rather avoid facing off against an entire army in his rescue of Paula. That might not be an option, though, if Giygas knew he was coming. Still, Ness was undaunted. Steeling himself for battle at a moment's notice, he trudged forward, hoping that his current equipment would be enough for him to endure the trials ahead.

As Ness made his way through town, he noticed several Starmen patrolling the streets. Since it was still afternoon, Ness could not rely on staying in the shadows to avoid detection. This meant that he would have to take more direct action when dealing with these unwelcome alien soldiers. He quickly found an isolated Starman and, using his telekinesis, pulled the unfortunate space man towards him. He then held his bat in a baseball batter's stance and when the Starman had arrived, he swung with all his might. Ness could hear the sound of bones shattering upon the alien's impact with his bat. The Starman's shattered body went sailing through the air. It landed a few dozen yards away from him. After it landed, it rolled a few feet before coming to a halt. The unexpected flight of the Starman had drawn the attention of his companions. The rest of the Starmen ceased their patrols and went over to their fallen comrade. As they were examining the body of their fallen comrade, Ness dashed down the street past the Hotel, Cycle Shop, and the Twoson Department Store, and out of danger for the moment. Ness smiled to himself. The more enemies that he could avoid now, the more energy he could conserve for fighting the more serious threats later on.

It was not long before Ness arrived at the remains of the Chaos Theater. The theater looked like it had been through a war, which for all intents and purposes, was quite true. Again, Ness wished that he had telepathic abilities like Paula to see if there was anyone inside, and if said occupants were friend or foe. Not only was the Chaos Theater in shambles, but there were pieces of metal now littering the streets heading down towards the Polestar Preschool. Ness also thought that he saw some sort of stains on the side of the road. There had been a battle here relatively recently. As he prepared to go down the Theater Road he saw a human coming towards him in a blue uniform with a blue hood covering his face. Ness instantly recognized the person as a member of the Happy Happyist Cult. Ness was startled at the appearance of the cultist. He thought that the Happy Happyist Cult had been disbanded after he first rescued Paula during his last adventure three years ago. If the new cultist was anything to go by, though, it looked like the cult was back up and running once more. Ness knew that he would have to change that. The cultist noticed Ness and quickly drew out a blue paintbrush covered with blue paint. Ness almost laughed. He was a lot stronger and more capable than he had been three years ago during his first battle against the cult. The Insane Cultist charged Ness, brandishing his oversized paintbrush as if it were a club or a sword. Ness simply responded by telekinetically hurling him backwards. The man landed on the ground with a thud and only an instant later, Ness was leaning over him, glaring down at him.

"Where is Paula Polestar?" Ness inquired of the fallen cultist in a low, hard voice.

"In Happy Happy Village," the cultist responded condescendingly. He gave off a chuckle as he continued, "I hear she won't last long. Soon we'll get our new high priestess and psychic soldier."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Ness responded before relatively lightly hitting the man on the head with his bat. Ness only half-hoped that his hit merely rendered the cultist, who did not seem to be under the influence of mind control, if his chuckle was anything to go by, unconscious, just in case he was wrong. Ness quickly went down south along Theater Road towards the Polestar Preschool since the tunnel leading to Peaceful Rest Valley, and then to Happy Happy Village was due east from the school.

It did not take him too long to reach the tunnel and his trip was free of incident, which surprised Ness. He had suspected that the road would have been crawling with Starmen, Mooks, and/or cultists. Instead, only some seemingly normal townspeople seemed to be out on the streets. Ness, however, was very cautious around these seemingly normal people, for while Carpainter had been in charge of the Happy Happyist Cult, there had been plain-dressed cultists as well. Ness would not have been surprised if the current inhabitants of Twoson were, indeed, cultists, especially since no one seemed to be trying to help out Paula. Ness quickly made his way towards the tunnel, being careful to not attract the attention of the people of Twoson. The trail that led to the tunnel was where things started to get strange. In fact, strange was an understatement, for soon, Ness found four oversized hamburgers walking on two spindly legs approaching. They appeared to be the size of large dogs and looked to be covered with ketchup, mustard, and had rolls on top of them. Ness could also see lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cheese, and bacon on the burgers as well. Ness's eyes went wide at the scene. _Okay, of all the weird things I've seen during my adventures, this is the weirdest_. As Ness began to try to make his way past them, the rolls opened and soon, a spray of spicy brown mustard was aimed at Ness's eyes. Ness instinctively closed his eyes and raised his arm to intercept the stream of mustard. The mustard splashed against his arm and it stung when the stream made contact with his arm. The mustard was being launched at high pressure. Ness quickly responded by using his telekinesis to cause the animated oversized hamburgers to collide with each other. After they fell to the ground in a pile, Ness went over to the hamburgers and began to wail on them with his baseball bat, beating on them repeatedly. The roll tops of the burgers collapsed into scraps of bread and sesame seeds under the withering assault. Ketchup, mustard, pickles, and bacon sprayed out from between the rolls like blood and gore as Ness continued to beat the burgers until they ceased movement. Eventually, the burgers ceased movement and Ness continued to travel towards the tunnel, his bat covered in ketchup, mustard, and even some pickles. He wiped the bat off on the ground as he made his way into the tunnel.

The interior of the tunnel that led to Peaceful Rest Valley was quite tranquil compared to Twoson. Ness took this time to rest and prepare himself physically and mentally for the next battles that he was likely to fight in Peaceful Rest Valley.

When Ness emerged in Peaceful Rest Valley, he found that it was anything but peaceful, despite the fact that the grass was green and the flowers in the valley were in bloom. The valley was crawling with cultists, Starmen, animated hamburgers and countless other strange enemies. Not only that, but the skies were covered with UFOs of various sizes as well. Ness could tell that this had "trap" written all over it. He did not care, though. He was confident in his ability to reach Paula and rescue her. He began by charging forward. The valley was pretty large, but if he could manage to get across without fighting too many enemies, he would have a better chance of rescuing Paula. He began his journey by following the river that he was facing north towards the bridge he hoped was still there. Along the way, he encountered several enemies that he had never seen before, red robotic suits of armor with feminine features, and golden robotic suits of armor that looked like samurai warriors. He had a suspicion that the new robotic enemies were quite formidable. The Juanas and Omega Borgs quickly began the battle by firing blasts of PSI Beam Gamma at Ness. He did not recognize the attack, but he knew enough to know that the beams were dangerous and that his shield might not be sufficient to stop them. He dodged the attacks by ducking behind a large boulder to his left. He soon focused a blast of PSI Rockin in his right hand and charged it to its Gamma form. He then hurled the ball of psychic energy at the seven robotic enemies. The ball of Rockin struck the ground among the Juanas and Omega Borgs and detonated. The field of energy enveloped the unfortunate robots and they were vaporized. When the field eventually dissipated, nothing more than clouds of dust remained. With that skirmish over, Ness continued on his journey.

It was not long before Ness found the bridge across the river. On the bridge, though, were two Starmen. Ness grinned. He was familiar with these enemies. Before approaching the Starmen, he raised a Shield Beta over his body. After he had erected the counter shield over himself, he made his move. He took out his baseball bat and charged towards the bridge, making certain to get the attention of both Starmen. The Starmen, not sensing the fact that Ness had a counter shield over his body, fired green beams of energy from their visors. This had disastrous consequences for the Starmen as their beams bounced off of his shield and were reflected right back at them. The beams bored holes into their heads and the Starmen fell due to the withering assault of their own fire. Ness simply continued on his way, not stopping to examine the fallen Starmen.

On the island in the middle of the river, Ness found that there were few enemies on the ground, and those that were there were weak. He only had to deal with a few animated Oversized Hamburgers. He quickly used his telekinesis to throw them into the water, causing them to drown, before they were in their attack range. However, there were two fighter-sized UFOs that were hovering above the island. These would be more difficult to deal with. They quickly deployed their cannons and began to open fire on Ness below. Green beams of energy scorched the island as the UFOs tried to vaporize Ness with their energy fire. Plumes of dirt and rock were thrown into the air, each strike gouging a five-meter crater into the ground. Ness had to duck for cover, since his counter shield had worn off and he needed a second to raise it again, a second that the UFOs were making sure that he would never have. Ness frantically searched for a rock to hide behind so that he could concentrate in order to raise a counter shield over his body to protect himself from the enemy fire. He quickly found a large rock that would hopefully cover him for a few seconds.

Ness ducked behind the rock and concentrated as a third UFO joined in on the attack. The third UFO managed to get a bead on Ness and opened fire on the psychic boy. The beam rocketed towards Ness at nearly the speed of light and struck him. Fortunately, Ness had managed to raise a counter shield over his body just before the beam made contact with him. The beam struck his shield, which flared into existence upon impact, and was immediately reflected back at the firing UFO. The reflected beam struck the support arm for the cannon and snapped it off. The cannon fell from the bottom of the UFO to the ground, where it crashed and sent up a large cloud of dirt, grass, and rock. Ness then concentrated on the stricken UFO and reached out with his mind. He could feel himself grabbing the UFO with his telekinetic power. The UFO struggled against his power, trying to free itself from his grasp, but to no avail. Ness's telekinesis was stronger than the thrust that the UFO's engines could produce. The UFO was now firmly in Ness's grasp. As soon as he had the UFO in his grasp, he waited for the other two UFOs to join in on the hunt. It was not long before the rock behind him exploded. The UFOs had found him. However, it was too late for them. Ness had raised his counter shield and made himself immune to their weapons fire. Ness quickly then used the UFO in his telekinetic grasp as a projectile weapon. Spinning it around like a frisbee, he then unleashed it at one of the remaining UFOs. The UFO under Ness's control rocketed towards the UFO behind Ness on his left. Turning to see the result of his attack, Ness watched as his UFO crashed into several smaller Li'l UFOs, shattering them, before colliding with the larger fighter-sized UFO. When the two UFOs collided, the UFO that had been struck by Ness's UFO immediately shattered, raining shrapnel down onto the ground. The UFO that Ness had controlled immediately careened off of the first UFO and into the second UFO. Upon the second collision, the two UFOs exploded in midair, raining down more shrapnel into the valley. With the UFO threat neutralized, Ness made his way forward at a leisurely pace. There were no more enemies on the island at the time. Ness knew, though, that it would not be long before reinforcements came into the valley. He merely hoped that it would distract them from reinforcing whatever forces were inside Happy Happy Village.

Ness hurried along path below the small hills on the island, searching for the bridge that would lead to the other side of the river, and thus take him to Happy Happy Village. After a minute of searching, found the bridge that led to the riverbank on the other side of the river and he rushed towards it. This time, two Omega Borgs stood guard on the bridge. Upon spotting Ness, they unleashed volleys of PSI Beam Gamma at him. Ness quickly dodged the beams from the two Omega Borgs and reached out with his hand. A wave of telekinetic energy was released from his hand and struck the Omega Borgs, knocking them to the ground. Ness rushed towards the fallen Omega Borgs with blinding speed and repeatedly bashed them in their heads and torsos. With each strike, the robots' armor became more and more deformed and began to crack in various places. It was not long before both of the Omega Borgs' heads were reduced to scrap metal. Before continuing, though, Ness peered down and noticed that the staffs that the Omega Borgs were carrying looked like they had an energy projector at on of their ends. Knowing that having a non-psychic ranged weapon would cut down on Ness's need for using his psychic powers, thus conserving his psychic energy, he put his baseball bat in a bag over his shoulder and took one of the Omega Borgs' staffs. He then crossed the bridge and went onto the shore on the other side of the river.

There, he was met by two more Borgs. These robots appeared in the form of green samurai suits of armor. Immediately upon spotting Ness, the Giga Borgs fired PSI Beams at Ness. The green psychic beams of energy struck at Ness's feet, barely missing the young teen. Ness, knowing that he was out in the open with no cover to speak of, did the only thing he could in this situation. He quickly powered a blast of PSI Rockin in his hand and unleashed it against the Giga Borgs. The scarlet ball of psychic energy streaked towards the robot soldiers at a blistering pace. The Borgs fired their PSI Beams at the oncoming attack to try to disrupt and dissipate it, but their beams merely bounced off the scarlet globe of energy. The globe detonated among the Giga Borgs and the explosion engulfed them in a field of energy. After the field of psychic energy had dissipated, no trace of the two Giga Borgs remained at all.

Remembering that the entrance to Happy Happy Village was on the other side of a massive wall of rock, Ness knew that he would have to take the long way around. He quickly turned north and proceeded along the rock face, hoping that his encounters with enemies would be limited. Unfortunately, that was not the case. After walking for a minute or two, Ness soon encountered a group of Li'l UFOs being escorted by two robots that had wheels on their bottom, with round torsos, two arms with balls on their ends, a long, thin neck, and a head with one eye. These robots were all too familiar to Ness, remembering his battles with them during his last adventure here in Peaceful Rest Valley. The Spinning Robos took point and targeted Ness. Unfortunately, for the robots, Ness was a lot stronger now than he was during his last stint through Peaceful Rest Valley. He also had more tools at his disposal. He quickly raised a Shield Beta over himself and proceeded to run straight at the robots and the Li'l UFOs. The UFOs and the Spinning Robos fired emerald green beams of energy at the charging psychic boy. The beams struck Ness's shield and were, in turn, reflected back at their sources. The rebounded beams of energy struck the robots and UFOs and bored noticeable holes in them. The UFOs, no longer able to stay aloft, quickly fell to the ground, some of them managing to land softly on the ground while the others were not so lucky. As for the Spinning Robos, they fared a little better. While their reflected beams gouged noticeable holes in their torsos, they were still able to function. Ness then proceeded to draw out his stolen Omega Borg staff and target the two Spinning Robos. He fired a single blast at the right robot, a green pulse of energy closing the distance between Ness and the robot at nearly the speed of light. The green pulse of energy in blew the robot's head apart. The shrapnel from the destroyed head flew in all directions and pelted its cohort, though the pieces of metal caused no damage to the other robot. The first robot ceased all functions with the loss of its head and came to a dead stop, reduced to a wrecked metallic statue. Ness quickly took aim with his staff and fired a second bolt of energy at the remaining Spinning Robo. This beam struck the robot in the neck, burning through the small metal tube that sufficed for the robot's neck. The green pulse beheaded robot, its head falling to the ground, making a clatter as it struck the ground and rolled to a stop a few feet away from the now useless body. Ness fired one last blast of energy to shatter the robot's head. He then proceeded to leave the now headless and impotent robot wandering aimlessly as he headed farther north.

He soon saw the hill begin to get lower until he could climb it. He proceeded to climb the hill. On the hill, he saw some more familiar enemies, a Territorial Oak, which was as the name suggests, a sentient oak tree with a face, surrounded by four Mobile Sprouts, small tree sprouts capable of moving on their own. As of right now, these enemies were not all that dangerous to him on their own. However, the Mobile Sprouts could use PSI Magnet, which could drain Ness of his psychic power, and greatly weaken him, especially since there were four of them. Even worse was the fact that the Mobile Sprouts could call for help and grow more of their kind. Ness knew that he had to deal with these enemies as quickly as possible. To accomplish this Ness powered another ball of PSI Rockin in his right hand. He then tossed the ball at the Territorial Oak and the Mobile Sprouts. The ball of Rockin exploded among the oak and the small sprouts and engulfed them in a red field of energy. The field of energy dissipated in a few seconds, leaving behind nothing but ashes. Ness then continued on his way around the hill and continued south. No enemies were in his path for the rest of the trip to the cave that led to Happy Happy Village. After a few minutes of walking, Ness found himself near the entrance to the cave that led to Happy Happy Village. Without missing a beat, he entered the cave.

Inside the Happy Happyist Cult Headquarters, Giygas stood near a computer terminal watching a screen. On the screen was the image of Ness having entered the cave that led to Happy Happy Village. Giygas had a stern expression on his face, but he was not frowning. He did not like the fact that he had lost a number of Giga Borgs, Omega Borgs, Starmen, and even some Fighter UFOs. Still, he was not worried. He smiled as he glanced behind him. There, a suit of armor hung inside an alcove. The suit was made of a metal harder and tougher than steel. It had no weapons of any kind on it, though. It did not need them, for inside the suit of armor was a powerful psychic. He only hoped that the armor was adequately able to meld with the psychic that had been placed inside of it. Giygas pushed a button and released the suit of armor from the alcove. It fell to the floor and landed on its feet, bending its knees slightly as it landed. Giygas noticed that the suit of armor was curling its fingers into a fist, and releasing the fist again. The armor did this repeatedly, as if flexing its fingers. Giygas stood in front of the armor and waited to see if it would move. It did not. Now, Giygas smiled. He finally had the perfect weapon for defeating Ness. He soon sent a telepathic signal to the rest of the Starmen ordering them to retreat and avoid engaging Ness. He also ordered the UFOs in Happy Happy Village to go to Twoson and hold the town against any other potential interlopers. He did not want to lose any more of his valuable soldiers to Ness. The Borgs and cultists were okay. The Borgs were machines anyway and could be replaced easily enough, and the cultists were worthless soldiers altogether. If Ness wasted psychic energy dealing with them, so much the better. Still, there was another reason that Giygas did not want any of his stronger minions to engage Ness. He wanted Ness to face off against this new suit of armor. He then focused on the monitor screen again, and used his psychic abilities to scan for Ness. He wanted to make sure that Ness got a chance to fight his new suit of armor.

Ness emerged from the cave and quickly found himself in Happy Happy Village. The village was not much different from what he had remembered on his last adventure. There were people milling about seemingly aimlessly. Ness suspected that they were under the influence of the Happy Happyist Cult leader, whoever or whatever he/she or it was. One person did stand out to Ness, though. Ness noticed the strange young girl from his birthday party standing in the middle of town. She looked to be about ten years old wearing a long red dress with black hair and gray eyes. Her skin was quite pale, as if she had not been in the sun for a very long time. When Ness approached the girl to see if she was lost or knew anything more about the cult, she ran away. However, Ness could tell that it was not fear that caused her to run. It also was not mischief, for she showed very little emotion on her face. She seemed almost robotic, which only served to unnerve Ness. Ness did not bother to chase the girl, though. He had more important things to take care of, like finding Paula and rescuing her. He then turned towards the center of the town, where Ness knew the Happy Happyist Cult headquarters stood. Indeed, there it was, the cult headquarters, which on the outside looked like a large three story house. Surrounding the headquarters, though, were four Omega Borgs and eight Insane Cultists. Ness quickly drew out his staff and searched the staff for any controls that could indicate a stun setting. He found none, so he then began to try to improvise. He knew the danger that the Omega Borgs could pose, but he did not want to kill the cultists if he could avoid it. After all, they may have only been under mind control, just like the first Happy Happyist Cult had been. This meant that PSI Rockin was out of the question. The cultists would have been instantly killed by even the weakest form of the attack. Ness still had some options left to him, though. The first thing he did was to target the nearest Omega Borg with his staff. He lined up the firing end of the staff with the closest Omega Borg and pushed the firing stud. A pulse of emerald green energy leapt out from the end of the staff and instantaneously closed the distance with the Omega Borg. The blast of energy struck the Omega Borg in the torso, leaving a small, black furrow and scorch mark on its armor. Ness gritted his teeth. The Omega Borgs' armor must have been stronger than he thought. That, or the armor was designed to absorb energy or was ablative, possibly both given the PSI Alien technology. He quickly lined his staff with the Omega Borg again and fired. Again, another green pulse of energy burned a small hole into the armor of the Omega Borg. Ness then fired again and again. Eventually, the Omega Borg went down, but not before sustaining four direct hits, with one of them being to its head.

The other Omega Borgs quickly left their posts to check on their fallen comrade. The cultists, however, remained at their stations. Ness grinned. This was great. All he had to do was lead the Omega Borgs far enough away to ensure that his PSI Rockin blast would not hit the cultists as well. The Borgs quickly began to approach Ness and upon spotting him, broke out into a full charge. This was what Ness had been waiting for. He quickly powered a ball of PSI Rockin and unleashed it at the Omega Borgs. The ball of Rockin struck the Borgs and detonated. The ensuing field of scarlet energy reduced the Omega Borgs to molecules and after the field had dissipated, there was nothing left of the robot samurai. Ness then went towards the Happy Happy Headquarters. Upon approaching the cult's headquarters, Ness expected to find the cultists trying to fight him. However, instead of engaging Ness, they simply remained at their posts making no hostile actions or gestures whatsoever. He even tried approaching one to see if he could get a reaction out of them, but they merely stood still. It was as if they were robots that had been powered down for some reason. Ness was getting suspicious now. This had to be a trap. The question was, though, whether or not he was on the right track for finding Paula. Happy Happy Village was a small town so there would not be very many places for the cultists to hide Paula, assuming she was in the village. Eventually, Ness decided that it would be most expedient for him to check the cult's headquarters for any sign of Paula. With that, he approached the headquarters' entrance and entered. Still, the cultists outside did nothing to stop him.

Inside the cult headquarters, Ness found four Starmen surrounded by a multitude of Happy Happy cultists. The cultists immediately surrounded Ness as he took a step forward. They soon drew out their paintbrushes and went to attack Ness. Ness, however, was not worried. He used his telekinesis to send an omni-directional wave of telekinetic force at the cultists. The cultists rocketed away from Ness and soared into the wall or across the floor. Wherever the cultists landed or impacted, they were rendered unconscious, dazed, or were otherwise out of action. Upon seeing Ness defeat the cultists with contemptuous ease, the Starmen looked at one another, as if discussing among themselves what course of action to take. After a second, they turned to face Ness and then vanished completely.

Ness's eyes went wide in shock at their disappearance. He immediately raised Shield Beta over himself, expecting the Starmen to appear behind him and launch a surprise attack. They did not appear. After several seconds, Ness figured that they would not attack him there. He then went towards the door at the end of the hall with some slight trepidation, as if still expecting the Starmen to attack. Their attacks did not come, though. Ness then continued on his way to search for Paula.

The next room was completely unoccupied, which did not surprise him all that much. Still, Ness had an uneasy feeling about what awaited him at the top of the headquarters. He wondered if Paula's warning to flee was because of whatever was at the top floor. It would have to be powerful indeed if it managed to capture Paula and have her try to warn him away, rather than giving him advice on how to save her. He then proceeded to the staircase at the end of the small room and ascended the stairs that would take him to his goal.

Upon reaching the top of the headquarters, Ness saw a humanoid cat-like alien standing in front of a suit of armor standing on an altar. He immediately recognized the alien as being a PSI Alien from George's description. The PSI Alien turned to face Ness. Upon meeting Ness's eyes, the alien grinned. "So we meet at last, face to face." His eyes narrowed in on Ness's face. "So you were the pilot of the Phase Distorter that rescued George and Maria more than eighty of your Earth years ago."

Ness did not bother to deny it. He simply nodded. Giygas smirked.

"Nothing to say? Don't worry, you will."

"Are you Giygas, the alien that Maria raised and that George referred to as Giegue?" Ness asked sternly.

Giygas smiled. "Yes," he said matter-of-factly. "I am. I used to be called Giegue, but that title was stripped of me when I failed to take over the Earth twelve or so Earth years ago. Now, I am merely Giygas once more."

So it was true. Giygas was alive. "How are you alive? We killed you in the Cave of the Past innumerable years in the past."

"That does not matter right now," Giygas responded haughtily. "All that matters is what will happen in the next minute or so."

With that, Giygas turned to the suit of armor and his eyes began to glow a deep green. "Psychic Marauder, destroy this human," Giygas commanded.

Immediately the eyes of the suit of armor began to glow blue as it seemingly activated. It stepped down from where it had been standing and approached Ness, a ball of fire forming in its hands. It stared directly into Ness's eyes. He could almost hear a mind speaking to him, but he could not make out what it was saying. The suit of armor extended its hand towards Ness in preparation for unleashing a blast of fire. Ness instinctively used his telekinesis to shove the suit backwards. It rocketed back into the wall behind the altar. The suit of armor slid along the wall to the floor. Giygas quickly floated up into the air. He then stared down at the suit of armor. The suit of armor put its hands up to its helmet and Giygas smiled. He knew that Ness was going to be in for a shock. The suit of armor removed its helmet and dropped it onto the floor, where it clattered until it rolled to a stop. Ness's eyes went wide in shock and horror, for standing in front of him was none other than Paula Polestar. He could see what looked to be wires in her hair, as if they were linking her brain to the armor. Giygas laughed.

"So, Ness. I wonder what you will do now. Can you defeat a psychic like Paula, who is also your best friend, possibly even your girlfriend?"

That was a good question. Ness did not know whether or not he would be able to fight Paula. He looked into Paula's eyes and saw that she was in a trance of some sort. Still, she was able to communicate with him telepathically. _Ness, duck,_ she warned. Just then, a stream of fire was unleashed in his direction. Ness barely managed to avoid the initial blast and run around the room. Paula swept the stream of flame towards Ness, but her sweep was slow and unsteady. It was easy for him to stay ahead of the attack until the stream of flame ceased. Paula was fighting the armor's control over her body and power, which was both good and bad: good in the fact that Paula was not likely anywhere close to full capacity, which meant that Ness could likely beat her without too much difficulty, and that she was likely still able to be saved. It was bad in the fact that it was Paula inside the armor and that she was fighting its control, so Ness would not dare to use anything close to his full power against her. Giygas merely sat back and relaxed while the battle between Ness and Paula Polestar began in earnest.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

After Ness had evaded the stream of fire, Paula, or rather the armor that was controlling her body, it decided to utilize her other psychic attacks against Ness. The armor raised Paula's hands and a snowflake of icy psychic energy appeared over her head. The snowflake rocketed away from Paula and towards Ness, who was in the corner of the room. Ness quickly ducked towards the stairwell as the snowflake of psychic energy struck the wall and detonated, creating an icy covering on the wall, extinguishing the flame along that part of the wall. Ness was a ways away from the blast radius of the attack, though, and escaped unscathed. The armor followed up with a second stream of PSI Fire. Ness was not quick enough to evade this stream and he took the full brunt of the attack. However, as the attack made contact with Ness, he noticed that the flame was not hot at all. If anything, it was mostly a light show, rather than any real attack. The flames engulfed Ness, but he felt no different than he would if he were outside on a hot summer day. They inflicted no injury on him at all. Ness smiled as he ran down the stairs. Paula was fighting the control of the armor and was able to severely limit the power that the armor was able to draw upon. This meant that he might only have to last long enough for Paula to overcome the armor's control. And given Paula's ability to limit the damage dealt by her psychic attacks, Ness would likely be able to fight her all day long. On the other hand, Paula could be fighting a losing battle and her psychic attacks could get noticeably more powerful as the battle progressed. _Ness_, he heard Paula's voice echo in his mind, _you can't hold back against me. I won't be able to resist the armor's control for much longer. I was bombarded with psychic assaults for over a day with no reprieve of any sort. I won't last much longer. You must beat me before the armor takes complete control of me_.

Ness heard Paula speak in his mind, but he did not pay attention to what she was saying. He could not risk killing Paula, no matter the circumstances. It was not long before he heard Paula's voice again, _Behind you_!

Ness turned and he found Paula launching another blast of PSI Fire towards him. Ness dove to the ground on the left as the stream of fire sailed over his body. He did not need to be able to sense energy to know that this PSI Fire attack was a lot stronger than the impotent attack that had hit him not too long ago. He could feel the heat of the flame as it sailed over his body The armor was gaining more control over Paula. He soon realized that if he was going to win, he would have to damage the armor itself without hurting her. That meant that his best chance would be to engage her in physical combat. He quickly rose and charged her. He drew out the Omega Borg's staff and tried to bring it down on the left side of the suit of armor that was her prison. Unfortunately, the armor was able to move her left arm much faster than Ness had initially believed possible. With blinding speed, the armor caught the Omega Borg staff that Ness was using. Paula cried out as the armor moved and Ness could hear the snapping of tendons in Paula's shoulder. The armor had dislocated Paula's shoulder in order to move its arm and intercept Ness's attack. The armor grabbed the staff and held it in a vice-like grip. The suit then performed a side kick to Ness's chest. The force of the impact sent Ness flying through the air and through the doorway and into the main hall of the cult's headquarters. The kick had also forced Ness to let go of the staff. Fortunately, the hall was now abandoned. Either Giygas had sent them away or they had realized that their new high priestess was fighting against the enemy and they did not want to be caught between the two of them.

Ness looked towards the doorway and saw Paula slowly enter the room. Her gait was slow and jerky. Her left arm was hanging at her side, a clear sign of her injury. The armor seemed to not need the arm at the moment. In her right hand was the Omega Borg staff. The suit of armor soon moved Paula's left arm so that it was now gripping the staff, causing Paula to wince and grunt with each and every move of her left arm. The armor then snapped the staff in half and dropped the two pieces of the staff on the ground. The remains of the staff clattered as they struck the metal floor. Ness quickly realized that this fight would be a lot more difficult than he first imagined. While he could easily defeat Paula with a blast of PSI Rockin, he did not want to risk injuring her further or even killing her. He soon realized that if he was going to damage the armor while minimizing the risk to Paula, he would have to use more of the lessons that Maria had taught him in her Magicant. Ness quickly drew out his Legendary Bat and held it in front of him in a defensive stance. Ness waited for the suit of armor to launch an attack against him before counterattacking. The suit drew back Paula's right arm and formed a fist. It quickly launched the fist at Ness as if a spring that had been drawing back Paula's arm had snapped. However, the initial drawing back of her arm was slow so Ness could see the attack coming from a mile away. It did not help the armor that Paula had telepathically warned Ness of the incoming attack. Ness dodged the attack and quickly charged his bat with psychic energy. After the suit had overextended itself, Ness swung the bat at the armored suit's abdomen. It was a safe swing in that if Ness had used too much power, then it was likely that only Paula's ribs would be bruised or broken and that she would not likely suffer much more internal damage with only one strike. The bat struck the armor's torso and a loud clang rang out. The bat vibrated in Ness's hands as it struck the suit of armor and Ness's hands stung for a bit. Ness could see the armor de-form as the bat struck it, but other than a noticeable dent, there was no other damage. Fortunately, he also did not hear the cracking of any bones or other internal structures inside the armor, which meant that Paula was likely either uninjured, or not severely injured by the attack. Ness saw Paula raise her head and smile. The smile did not seem forced or unnatural, so Ness took that as a sign that she was currently okay aside from her dislocated shoulder.

The armor did not stop, though. It quickly recovered and tried to perform a roundhouse kick with the aim of taking off Ness's head. Paula telepathically warned him of the attack so he quickly ducked and let the kick sail over his head. He retaliated with a side kick to the armor's chest. The kick struck the armor in its torso and he heard a small clank as his foot impacted the metal of the armor. The kick forced the armor back a few steps but it had no trouble maintaining its balance, despite Paula doing everything she could to make the armor fall over. Paula quickly glanced over at Ness and frowned. She knew that he was holding back…a lot. Given how powerful he was and the fact that with Paula interfering in the armor's ability to properly control her psychic power, it could not hit the broad side of a barn with any sort of ranged attack if it wanted the attack to maintain any noticeable level of power. It was then that Ness realized that _Paula_ had gotten the armor to destroy the Omega Borg's staff to deny it a ranged weapon capable of hurting him, not the armor destroying it to deny him a weapon. She stared at Ness again. What was he waiting for? Why did he not just finish the fight? Why was he using physical attacks rather than using his other more effective moves?

Ness quickly decided to switch tactics a bit, despite the fact that the armor had not scored a solid hit on him save for that blast of PSI Fire, which was little more than a light show. Ness's eyes began to glow and he focused on the suit of armor. He then used Paralysis on the armor. Unfortunately, the armor was resistant to Paralysis and it continued to be able to move. This was bad. Now, Ness did not know what he could do to make the armor suit cease functioning without risking injury, or even death, to Paula. Flash would not work since Paralysis would not affect it. The armor was likely also immune to feeling strange and crying as well. He could try to use Flash at its higher levels, but then that ran the risk of killing Paula as well. Even with Healing Omega, he did not want to play with Paula's life. Something could always go wrong, especially since Flash could cause instant death. He would not play with her life like that. He decided that it was best to try to wear down the suit of armor as much as he could. Still, there was the issue of how long Paula could hold out before the suit of armor overpowered her and started fighting at its full power, utilizing all of Paula's psychic attacks at their full strength, including PSI Freeze Omega, PSI Thunder…wait, that was it! Ness now had an idea for how to take down the suit of armor without risking too great an injury to Paula.

Ness quickly stood upright and opened himself wide to an attack. This also exposed the fact that Ness was wearing a Franklin Badge as well. Paula smiled knowingly at the sight and knew exactly what to do. Paula extended her right hand towards Ness and electricity began to crackle around her fingertips as she began to power a PSI Thunder attack. The armor, not being programmed to know of the Franklin Badge's ability to reflect lightning, let Paula power the attack to its Beta level, believing that either Paula had converted to its will or that it had won and conquered Paula. This would give Paula a good chance of the reflected damage managing to short out the armor without hurting her too greatly in the process. Paula then unleashed the barrage of lightning at Ness. The stream of lightning struck Ness and a distinctive metallic clang could be heard as the lightning hit Ness and was reflected back at the suit of armor. The reflected lightning struck the suit of armor in the torso and the armor began to spark while electricity arced across its body. Sparks flew from various joints located all across the suit of armor and sections of it blackened with obvious signs of scorching. Ness then noticed a soft hum coming from the armor. It soon began to get quieter and quieter, as well as lowering in pitch until the sound ceased entirely. Just then the pieces of the suit began to fall off of Paula. Piece after piece fell off of Paula's body until the suit of armor was nothing more than pieces of metal strewn across the floor. Paula soon fell to the floor as well, dressed in a pink and white skintight suit that covered her from her neck all the way down to her feet. Paula quickly used her power to burn parts of the suit, seemingly shutting it down. Evidently, it, too, was a part of the armor and Paula wanted to make sure that it was damaged beyond repair as well. After a few moments, she had torn the sleeves off the suit completely as well as the legs, up to a few inches above her knees. She did not want to take any chances with the skintight suit managing to reactivate and take control of her body again. Paula also raised her right arm and took off the headset that had been connected to her, allowing the suit of armor to control her psychic powers, and threw it to the ground. She then went over and stomped the headset, destroying it.

After she had destroyed the headset, she went back over to Ness. He suspected that Paula had destroyed the suit due to the possibility of it being able to either control or slow down her body's movements even without the armor. Ness, wanting to see how his friend was doing, ran over to her and asked, "Are you all right?"

"I will be once I get out of this suit and into some new clothes," she replied with a grin. Ness smiled, relieved that Paula seemed to be okay. He then quickly used Lifeup on her to heal her dislocated shoulder.

Just as he turned so they could leave, they saw Giygas standing before them. "So I finally get to see the power of the psychic who helped George rescue Maria," he said in a low voice. "I was expecting you to have more difficulty against her."

"Maybe Paula's mind is a bit stronger than you thought," Ness retorted.

Giygas gave a humph. "Probably. You have shown yourselves to be quite powerful…far more so than I had initially expected, the strongest humans that I have encountered so far. Still, you are not strong enough to stop me. I am simply too powerful and have too much experience fighting against strong opponents. You aren't Maria, after all."

That statement caused Ness to narrow his gaze on Giygas. "So you're Giegue," Ness said.

"As I have already told you, no," Giygas responded, shaking his head. "Not anymore. I was once Giegue, but I was defeated by humans much like yourselves. They sang a song that caused me to remember Maria, my adoptive human mother, and how I had wronged her by fighting her all those years ago. As a result of that loss, I was stripped of the rank of Giegue, and the title was given to my younger brother."

"Then why are you after us?" Paula asked. "You must know that Maria did not want you to become a genocidal mass murderer!"

Giygas laughed. "And that is why the Universal Cosmic Destroyer was born!" he cried out, his eyes glowing and showing barely any trace of sanity. Ness did not let down his guard, though. The laughter and lack of sanity may have all been an act. He was soon shown to be correct as Giygas calmed down a few moments later. He then gazed at the two human children and continued. "I knew that I needed to do something to get around my weakness of my attachment to Maria. So I underwent a procedure sooner than expected that would give me all of that power. Most of my species fused into one composite being, the focal point of that being was me, or rather, my original form, Giygas. The process would have destroyed my physical body and mind since they could not maintain the power that had been passed to me. However, in order for the Universal Cosmic Destroyer to not have any weakness to human emotions, it had to cast out its goodness. And so it did, as well as its mind as well. It's good side and its mind and soul, in essence, what was the original Giygas, was cast out of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas so that he could also become the Embodiment of Evil, and formed a new body. That body is what you see before you right now. I am what was cast out of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer.

"Still, since I have a mind and sentience, I also have the capacity for evil. I knew that I had to detach myself from everyone on Earth at that very moment, especially Maria. And my presence here shows that I have finally accomplished that task."

"But why?" Paula asked again. "You're not the Embodiment of Evil. You still have your mind and soul, and your conscience. You have free will! You don't have to be evil."

"You're right," Giygas replied with a grin. "But the fact is that I choose to be what I am."

Paula then frowned as Giygas laughed. His laugh echoed throughout the entire hall. It was not long before Ness spoke. "So there's no reason for us to hold back against you at all," Ness said, his excitement for this battle to get underway readily apparent in his voice.

Giygas grinned again. "No, I guess not," he replied nonchalantly. "But alas, our confrontation will have to wait for another time. I am needed elsewhere, and you still have two friends, as well as your families, and theirs, to find. So for now, I will bid you a not so nice adieu." After finishing the last word, Giygas vanished into thin air. Both Ness and Paula knew that they would meet Giygas again. This was not over, not by a long shot. After Giygas had vanished, Ness and Paula also left the headquarters of the Happy Happyist Cult.

Upon exiting the cult's headquarters, they immediately went north towards the Drugstore. Paula had lost all of her items after being captured, and a search of the headquarters of the cult turned up nothing, and she really wanted to get out of the suit whose remains she was still wearing. She knew that while the Drugstore would not have any new clothes for her, it would hopefully have some equipment that would be of use to her since she lost her Non-Stick Fry Pan. It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the Happy Happy Village Drugstore. Before Paula went inside, she asked Ness to lend her some money so that she could buy the necessary equipment. After Ness handed her some money, Paula quickly rushed inside while Ness waited for her outside, before entering, Paula promised to pay back Ness when she got back to her home to change.

Inside the store, Paula looked around for useful equipment that was not too expensive. She knew that it was only a short bus ride to Threed, where she could get some good equipment, relatively speaking. She bought a Copper Bracelet and a Ribbon for her hair, both of which would help aid her in defense, as well as two Refreshing Herbs, which would be useful if she got sick, was poisoned, or suffered from a number of other status ailments. She had wanted to buy more items, but she was short on cash. Ness had not had a lot of money, himself, at the moment, so he was limited in the amount of money he could give her. After she had bought the items, she quickly tied the ribbon in her hair and placed the Copper Bracelet on her left arm. Now, she was ready to go. After she was finished in the store, she turned around and exited, a friendly voice calling, "Thank you, come again," after her.

When she had gotten back outside, Ness noticed that she did not have a frying pan on her. He said nothing about it, though. He then asked, "Okay Paula, where to next?"

"Home," Paula replied.

With that, the two of them left Happy Happy Village and trekked back to Twoson. Their journey was free of incident and as they entered Peaceful Rest Valley, they basked in the glow of the sun hitting their faces. Finally, there was a moment of calm where they were not getting besieged by monsters, robots, or aliens. Ness turned to Paula and smiled, who quickly returned his smile. Ness then looked at Paula's current tattered uniform and he felt his chest constrict as he saw her in the sunlight during this relaxing moment. He had never felt that before when looking at her. He had always viewed Paula a pretty, but he had never had a physical reaction like this to seeing her before. Paula, however, was not in the same boat. She had always not only viewed Ness as handsome, but she had had a crush on him for quite some time. Only now did Ness realize that he, too, was echoing Paula's crush. After a few minutes of resting, the two continued to make their way back towards Twoson. Being free of the enemy, the trip back did not take long at all, and within a couple minutes, the two of them were back in Twoson.

Back in Twoson, the two psychics encountered a bizarre scene before them. Despite the fact that in Happy Happy Village and in Peaceful Rest Valley, it had been the middle of the day, it was dark in Twoson. Ness and Paula looked up into the sky and could not even find the moon in the sky, even though there was supposed to be a full moon out that night. There were no clouds in the sky either. It was simply as if the sun had just gone out. Ness quickly looked at his watch and found that the time said 2:00 P.M. He glanced towards Paula and asked, "Do you sense anything strange here?"

"Yes," Paula responded in a wispy voice. She was obviously troubled. "There's no one in town, at all. I can't sense anybody here at all, human, Starman, PSI Alien, nothing."

The two of them then slowly continued on their way towards town. Upon entering the town itself, Paula's feeling of emptiness was confirmed. There was no sign of anyone at all in Twoson. The Bus Station and Pizza Shop were both dark. Paula approached each of the locations and her eyes glowed for a brief second as she attempted to ascertain whether or not anyone was inside either building. Both buildings were abandoned. The two then proceeded towards the Polestar Preschool, which was not far away from the Pizza Shop. The two soon reached the Polestar Preschool and Paula asked to duck into her home so she could change and get a frying pan for use on the road. Ness had no problem waiting for her. With that, Paula went into her house while Ness waited for her outside. This also gave him an opportunity to look around. While he was waiting, he saw the girl in the red dress that he had encountered at his party in Onett and later in Happy Happy Village once again. As he tried to approach, the girl turned and giggled before running down the street to the south. Ness knew the street she was rushing down, though. It led to the tunnel that took one out of Twoson and to Threed. Ness decided to not give chase to the girl. He had a feeling that he had not seen the last of her. Still, her appearance had unnerved him. Paula had stated that she felt no one in Twoson. Paula was a powerful telepath and had a lot better fine control and experience with her psychic power than Ness did and she had not sensed the girl at all. Ness decided that he would have to tell Paula about the girl that he saw when she came out of her house. And it was not long before Paula emerged.

Paula emerged from her house and Ness went to greet her. Paula came out wearing a pink sleeveless polo shirt and blue shorts. She was also holding a frying pan in her right hand. If Ness had been inside while Paula had been changing and getting her weapons, he would have found that she had a new Non-Stick Fry Pan in her right hand. Ness smiled at the sight of the beautiful girl. He did not know why the smile was his first reaction, but it was. Paula gave a soft laugh at Ness's smile. She then approached Ness and handed him the money she owed him after having been lent some money in Happy Happy Village. Ness graciously accepted her return payment. After paying Ness, her expression became more serious. "So, Ness, what's our next move?"

Ness considered her question. Indeed, what was their next move? Truth be told, to him, finding Paula had been pure luck. He did not relish the idea of wandering around aimlessly searching the world hoping to get lucky. Still, he had been lucky when he found Paula. Maybe he would get lucky again. Then a thought came to him. "Hey Paula," he called over to her. Paula then turned to Ness as he made his suggestion. "You could send a telepathic signal to Jeff and Poo. You managed to contact Jeff and I three years ago. If anyone can find Jeff and Poo right now, it's you. You could also search for our families while you're at it."

"Yeah, make me carry the load," Paula quipped playfully in response. She then smiled and said, "Sure." Her eyes then began to glow as she began to telepathically scan the world for any sign of their friends and families. Surprisingly, she was only able to sense Ness right next to her and no one else, at all. She expanded her search, but still she came up empty. Ness noticed her begin to strain as she tried to expand her search. "What is it Paula?" he asked.

She did not immediately respond. She tried one more telepathic search to see if she could sense anyone at all. Again, nothing. Her eyes returned back to normal and she turned back to Ness. "I can't sense anyone besides you, at all, anywhere," she responded. "I don't know what's going on."

"Could the robot have affected your telepathy in any way?"

"I doubt it. My mind was not damaged in the battle for control and I know that I suffered no brain damage during my fights with the PSI Aliens and the Starmen. Let's head back into Peaceful Rest Valley and see what happens there."

"Good idea," Ness agreed. The two of them then headed east and back towards the tunnel. Not long after they had started, they were at the tunnel. They went through the tunnel and soon found themselves back in Peaceful Rest Valley.

Here, it was still daylight. Paula again tried to initiate a telepathic scan of the world and search for Jeff and Poo. This time, she could hear the voices of over six billion people. This was quite strange. Why could she sense everyone here, but not in Twoson? She did not dwell on it much. She was only interested in a few people out of all the billions in the world. She began by searching for Jeff. No matter where she focused her scan, she could not find Jeff. She then decided to search for Poo. After a few seconds, she managed to find Poo in the Scaraba Desert. She did not scan further before temporarily ceasing her scan. "I found Poo," she blurted out to Ness. "He's in Scaraba."

"Scaraba," Ness said almost in echo to her statement.

"Yeah," Paula replied.

This was both good and bad. It was good in the fact that they both knew that Poo was still alive, and in this time period. It was bad in that Ness did not remember enough about Scaraba to know whether or not he would be able to teleport there safely. And while he may have been willing to try it out on his own, he was with Paula right now and he would not risk her safety for the off chance of getting to Scaraba. That meant that the only way to Scaraba would be by boat or plane. They were too far away from an airport to make it by bike so they would need to find some alternate means of transport. Or, they could wait for Poo to come to them. The two then headed back into Twoson.

Back in Twoson, the same dark emptiness greeted them once more. Once again, Ness saw the girl in the red dress standing before them. She giggled and called playfully, "What are you waiting for, come get me." She then rushed off, heading down Route 34, seemingly heading for Threed.

Ness was about to follow the girl when Paula gripped his arm and gazed deeply into his eyes shaking her head in warning. Ness also noticed a look of apprehension in Paula's face. He soon began to wonder what was going on with Paula. Ness then relaxed and watched as the girl fled down the street to the south. Ness turned to Paula and asked, "What was that about? Why did you look so worried?"

"Something's not right about her," Paula answered in reply. "I couldn't sense her at all."

That did not exactly catch Ness off guard, but it caused him to be much more suspicious of the girl than he had initially been. "That's not all," Paula added. "I can't sense anyone in the outside world again. Something strange is going on in Twoson."

"Yeah, I know." He paused to consider their options. Besides Peaceful Rest Valley and Happy Happy Village, there was nothing special about Twoson. There were no hidden passage ways or secret locations to go to.

"Perhaps we should go to either Onett or Threed," Paula suggested.

"Huh, why Threed?" Ness asked.

"Because you've already been to Onett and it seems to be normal right now," Paula answered. "Besides, we need to know if what's going on here, especially if this turns out to not be an isolated incident. Not only that, but that girl seemed to be headed towards Threed. We need to talk to her so we can find out what's going on. I have a feeling that she may know what's happening around here."

Paula had a point. Even though Peaceful Rest Valley seemed to be normal, it was not exactly an important PSI Alien target. Happy Happy Village and Twoson, however, were. However, Happy Happy Village had not been shrouded in darkness at all, even when the girl had been there earlier. Twoson had also not been shrouded in darkness, either. Still, someone in Threed might know what is going on. Besides, it was on the way to Saturn Valley. Maybe the Mr. Saturns and Apple Kid know something of what's going on if no one in Threed did. And Paula was right about the girl. Threed did seem to be the girl's destination, and there was the chance that the girl did know what was going on. Going there was their best option. Besides, the girl seemed to be treating this chase as if it were a game, indicating that she either knew the cause of the darkness, or merely did not care about what it meant. First, though, they would need to find some means of transportation. The two of them then headed towards the Polestar Preschool, Paula's home, once more.

Once there, the two of them headed around to the back yard and to the garage. Paula opened the garage and a line of bicycles lined the walls of the garage. Paula then told him, "These bicycles are normally for the students, but some of them can fit older kids as well. Technically, my parents also own them, so you can use one of these for our ride to Threed."

"Thanks," Ness said exuberantly. Now he would not have to sell any of his equipment in order to get the money needed to buy a bike. Speaking of money, Ness soon realized that he would need to get to an ATM in Threed to withdraw some money. Before anything else was done, though, Paula came up to him and handed him some money. Ness then went on to select one the less girly larger bikes that Ness suspected was designed for boys. Once Ness had selected his bike, he mounted the bike and drove out front. Paula followed close behind on a pink bike wearing a helmet with knee and elbow pads. She also handed a helmet and pads to Ness. He dismounted his bike and put on the pads and helmet. Fortunately, his helmet and pads were not pink or red, like Paula's. They were blue and gray. Once he was fully attired, Ness boarded his bike once more and the two of them proceeded down Route 34 and towards the tunnel that would take them to Threed.

During the trip, Ness quickly glanced around Twoson. Indeed, it was completely deserted. There was not a single sign of life at all in the town, not even runaway dogs or other animals. The silence made the town very eerie. After a half hour of riding, the two teens came to a corner as the road turned sharply. They turned left and not too far ahead was the tunnel that connected them from Twoson to Threed. The two entered the tunnel, but upon after driving about a few dozen yards in the tunnel, a barrier shimmered before them and they were repulsed. It was as if they had hit a wall. The two teens felt an electric shock all over their body and they fell off their own bikes. It took them a few moments to recover from the shock.

"Great," Paula muttered, her body still tingling from the shock. "Looks like Threed's out of the question."

Ness nodded grimly. This was not good. The two then began to turn around to return to Twoson and they saw the mysterious girl in the red dress once more. Her face was twisted into a mad grin. "Come and get me, you two!" she taunted. "If you catch me, I'll tell you where your friends Jeff Andonuts and Prince Poo, formerly of Dalaam, are."

Ness and Paula's eyes went wide in shock and hope at that statement. Ness began to approach and begged, "Please, miss. Tell us where our friends are."

The girl merely laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! You'll have to catch me, first!" With that, she rocketed away from the teens. Ness and Paula then remounted their bicycles and chased after her. They did not want to play this game with the mysterious girl, but so far, they figured that she was not only the only clue in helping them find their friends, but also solving the mystery of what was happening in Twoson as well.

Waiting above the town of Twoson, Starman Deluxe Beta overlooked the town. He had been tasked by Giygas to keep an eye on Ness and Paula, but he had recently detected the presence of a new girl in a red sleeveless dress. Her sudden appearance was quite suspicious. As such, he had telepathically alerted his master of the recent turn of events. Giygas had ordered him to keep an eye on the girl as well, just in case she was a new player in the game, but to not make contact with her at all. He had tracked both the girl into the tunnel after she had encountered the teens, as well as the teens entering the tunnel. Given the fact that his own psychic senses had not passed through the barrier that had been erected a few dozen yards into the tunnel that connected Twoson to Threed and that a test barrage of PSI Starstorm had only caused ripples in the barrier, meant that whoever was still in Twoson was staying whether they wanted to or not. Still, he surmised that the girl was also trapped in the city, assuming that she had not been the one to erect the barrier. Still, he was unable to sense anything outside the town, so he doubted that the barrier had been lowered. There, he would wait for the girl to reemerge into Twoson. Then, he would interrogate her, especially given what he had overheard in her conversation with Paula and Ness and the fact that she knew where Jeff and Poo were. _So Poo may still be alive_, he thought. If this were true, he had to know. Not only that, but the fact that Jeff was still unaccounted for was also troubling for him and his master. He was very willing to disobey Giygas's order of not making contact with the girl if it meant that he would be able to find out the locations of two of the remaining Chosen Four.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

On the mountain on top of the tunnel that connected Twoson to Threed, the Starman Deluxe identified as Starman Deluxe Beta watched as the chase began once again when the girl emerged from the tunnel. The Starman knew that the girl was too fast for the teens to catch on foot, and maybe even on bike. Still, she was using the fact that she knew where Jeff was as her lure for the children, and the fact that Paula had not exposed it as a lie, indicated that she did, indeed, know the location of the only unaccounted for member of the so-called Chosen Four. Though, he was still unable to sense the girl and his telepathic scan of her yielded no information at all, something he considered strange. He needed to find out where Jeff was, no matter the cost. He knew now that he would have to confront the girl in order to get the information out of her. She may be faster than him on foot, but he could still catch up to her by means of teleportation. He instantly disappeared from the mountaintop and reappeared not too far away from the tunnel that connected Twoson to Threed. Not long after appearing in the dark, deserted Twoson, he saw the girl in the red dress coming into view, running faster than any normal human, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake. It was time. The girl instantly came to a halt upon seeing the Starman Deluxe appear directly in front of her. At the sight of the Starman, she frowned, but it seemed to be one of frustration and impatience, rather than the look of being defeated. She showed no fear of the powerful Starman whatsoever.

"Great, you showed up instead. I want the humans, not you," she told him harshly in no uncertain terms.

The Starman did not care what the girl wanted. He had a mission to perform. "Tell me the locations of the human boy named Jeff Andonuts and Prince Poo of Dalaam, now," he commanded.

The Starman had expected the girl to either try to run around him, flee, or obey his command and tell him where Jeff and Poo were. He had not expected the girl to break out in laughter. At first, it seemed as if the girl found his command humorous, but upon listening to her laugh further, he could hear a note of insanity in her voice. "Why would I do a dumb thing like that you pathetic organic robot," she replied.

Her response took the Starman aback. It was not the fact that she had insulted him that made him recoil, but the fact that she seemed to know what he was. Who was this girl to insult a Starman Deluxe like that, especially if she knew what he was and what he was capable of? "I'll ask you again, where is Jeff Andonuts?" This time, the Starman sounded much more serious.

"You find him," she retorted. "You're the psychics after all. Finding a normal shouldn't be too hard for you." The girl then looked the Starman straight in the visor.

The Starman Deluxe made no reply to the young girl. She was cocky, that was certain, bordering on arrogant, in the Starman Deluxe's view. He realized that it would be bad to show this girl that he might not be the most powerful psychic on this planet, or that they had not been able to locate Jeff Andonuts at all, despite Master Giygas scanning the planet for him. "The barrier that is erected over Twoson blocks my ability to sense anything out of the town by means of a cursory scan. Doing anything more right now would be a waste of my time," he eventually responded guardedly. "Why waste the energy searching for my quarry when I can get someone else to do it for me?"

The girl smirked. "Why, indeed?" she responded.

"Now, tell me where he is."

"No."

"Then you leave me no choice."

Green orbs of energy soon began to form around the Starman Deluxe. "Last chance," he warned. "Where are Jeff Andonuts and Prince Poo of Dalaam?"

The girl merely grinned. After a dozen orbs had appeared around the Starman, he began to unleash them upon the girl. The girl did her best to dodge and weave in between the barrage of stars to try to make her way past the Starman. The first star managed to sail high over her head. She did not even have to duck in order to avoid it. The second two were aimed at her chest, though they flew quite straight and she was able to weave her way in between them without difficulty. The fourth, fifth, and sixth stars streaked towards her at different angles. These would be harder to avoid. Still, the girl's superhuman agility managed to allow her to dance around the stars without too much difficulty. However, her luck was about to run out. After managing to evade the seventh and eighth stars, the ninth star managed to strike near the girl's feet. While the star had not scored a direct hit on the girl, its impact and explosion had tossed her into the air. She gave a brief cry of surprise when she was forced into the air by the explosion. This left her vulnerable to the three remaining stars in the barrage. She landed a few yards away and looked up to see the final three stars bearing down on her. The girl then raised her right hand, as if in raising some sort of defense or preparing to launch a counterattack. The stars then collided with the girl and she was engulfed by their subsequent explosions.

Not too far away, Ness and Paula emerged from the tunnel and chased after the girl. They were surprised when after only a hundred yards or so, they found the girl lying on the ground, a Starman Deluxe standing over her. For the first time, Ness had seen a look of fear on the girl's face. While Ness had not been exactly on friendly terms with the girl, in fact he found her and her game to be quite annoying, he still did not think that she deserved to be a victim of the Starman Deluxe standing over her. The two human teens then heard the Starman Deluxe speak to the fallen girl. "I'll ask this one more time. Where is Jeffery Andonuts?"

Still, the girl was defiant. "I'll never tell _you_!" she cried, showing her utter contempt for the Starman Deluxe.

The Starman Deluxe then gave a machine-like macabre laugh. "Then there's no reason to keep you alive."

A series of green orbs then appeared around the Starman once more, a clear prelude to PSI Starstorm. Ness and Paula had other ideas, though. Both teens quickly dismounted their bikes and rushed towards the scene. Ness drew out his baseball bat and charged towards the Starman Deluxe while Paula raised a PSI Shield Omega over herself, Ness, and the mysterious girl, just in case Ness did not reach the Starman in time, or his attack did not cancel out his Starstorm barrage. Ness gripped his bat and swung with all his might when he arrived to face the Starman Deluxe. He remembered that while the Starman Deluxe had a psychic counter shield as a natural defense mechanism, it did not have the ability to utilize a physical shield, and thus was vulnerable to physical attacks. The bat struck the Starman Deluxe in the chest, the force of the impact sending the Starman hurtling through the air. He landed a few feet away and skidded along the ground. However, Ness knew from personal experience that it took more than a single swing from a baseball bat, no matter how well crafted or what it was made of, to take down a Starman Deluxe. The Starman Deluxe rose from the ground quickly and outstretched his arm. Ness noticed that the dozen stars that formed the Starman Deluxe's PSI Starstorm attack had not dissipated. Ness's fear that his attack might not stop the Starman's PSI Starstorm was soon realized as a dozen stars streaked towards the girl and Paula. He prayed that Paula had managed to raise a psychic shield over herself and the mysterious girl. Miraculously, the stars stopped short of the two girls and a reddish shield formed around the two of them as the stars were about to strike. There, the stars were suspended in midair for a brief second before being redirected back towards the Starman Deluxe. He, too, had a psychic counter shield, though, so upon impact with the Starman Deluxe's shield, the stars were redirected back at Paula and the girl. The stars moved back and forth, as if they were part of a tennis match until they eventually dissipated. Still, the shield had done its job and protected Paula and the girl from harm.

After the attack, the girl looked up at Paula, as if sensing the psychic counter shield that was surrounding her, Paula, and even Ness. She clearly saw the concern on Paula's face for her safety, as well as the fact that she now standing between her and the Starman Deluxe. She also noticed Ness charging after the Starman Deluxe again. She had heard the impact of two objects colliding with each other. She guessed that it had been Ness attacking the Starman, and protecting her in the process. _Why are they doing this_? she wondered. _Why are they fighting this alien for me_?

"Are you alright?" Paula asked the girl, her voice showing concern for her safety.

"Yes," the girl replied, her fear still evident on her face. Paula could not help but feel notice a strange sensation when she neared the girl. Something was not right about her, but Paula could not quite figure out what it was. "Why?" the girl began.

Paula looked into the girl's eyes. "Why are you fighting to save me? I've done nothing but lead you on a wild chase through this city in an effort to find your friends."

"Because you did do anything deserving of death," Paula responded quickly. "I don't mean to be rude, but we'll have to continue this conversation a little bit later. That Starman Deluxe isn't beaten yet." Paula pointed over to where the Starman Deluxe was fighting with Ness. "I have to help him. Starman Deluxes are quite powerful." Paula then rushed over to Ness's position. The girl focused on the Starman. _So, she has had experiences dealing with Starman Deluxes before_, the girl noted. Indeed, things were getting interesting now. Perhaps these kids were a threat after all.

Paula joined Ness just as he collapsed the abdomen of the Starman Deluxe with a swing of his baseball bat. Paula joined in the battle by taking a swing at the Starman's head with her Non-Stick Fry Pan. The Starman managed to dodge her attack, but he was unable to evade Ness's foot, which impacted his already injured abdomen. The Starman recoiled from the kick and nearly fell to the ground. He realized that a physical fight against the teens was a bad idea, especially in his current condition. He decided that his best course of action at the moment would be for him to try to take down the two psychic teens by firing a beam of energy from his visor, since his psychic attacks were merely going to be reflected by the psychic counter shield that Paula had erected over the three of them. The Starman Deluxe fired a green beam of energy from his visor, but Ness and Paula were too quick for him. They easily evaded the beam of energy and quickly closed the distance between themselves and the Starman once more and continued the battle.

The Starman Deluxe then realized that despite his strength against the two kids with his own psychic counter shield still being up, though weakened due to the tennis match between him and Paula and the girl when he used PSI Starstorm on the girl's shield, he still had one major weakness. Paula Polestar knew PSI Thunder, and her PSI Thunder, like the one used by Master Giygas, could collapse a psychic shield or a psychic counter shield. He looked into the eyes of Paula Polestar and saw that her eyes had begun to glow. Lightning crackled in her right hand, a clear sign that she was powering a PSI Thunder attack. Paula extended her hand and soon, five bolts of lightning were crossing the distance between Paula and the Starman. The five lightning bolts that made up Paula's PSI Thunder Omega struck the shield of the Starman Deluxe simultaneously. At first, the shield merely glowed and hummed as it strained against the attack. After a second or so, the shield began to crack. A second or so after that, the entire shield collapsed and the remnants of the lightning surged through and struck the Starman Deluxe in the abdomen. Lightning arced across the body of the Starman Deluxe as he staggered backwards. Despite the damage sustained by the attack, the Starman Deluxe uttered no cry, and he was still standing. Ness, however, intended to make sure that he was not going to stay that way for long.

Ness neared the Starman Deluxe and took a mighty swing at the stricken Starman's head with his bat. The Starman, seeing the attack coming, barely managed to duck beneath the swing, but his duck carried him into Paula's upper cut swing with her Non-Stick Fry Pan. A clang could be heard as the metal of the frying pan made contact with the suit of the Starman Deluxe. The Starman Deluxe fell over backwards to the ground, which allowed Ness to pummel him with a swing of his baseball bat. The bat struck the Starman in the abdomen. The Starman let out a grunt as air was forced from his lungs by the impact of the bat. The sound of breaking bones could also be heard along with the impact. Still, this was not enough to finish off the Starman Deluxe. However, he would have to do something quickly, for he was weakening fast. Calling for help was not an option since he was the only Starman Deluxe, or PSI Lord servant for that matter, in the area. All of the others were currently in Yucca Desert or on Mount Itoi. He could simply flee the battle, but that would be extremely humiliating. Even though another Starman Deluxe had fallen to the Chosen Four, it had been a four-on-one situation. Here, it was only two-on-one, and Ness and Paula had to have expended a good amount of energy chasing the girl. That was not all, though. He had disobeyed a direct order from his master. That was a crime punishable by death. Even though he did so for what he thought was a good reason, in hindsight, he should have alerted Giygas to the situation before going to engage the girl. Not only that, but he had not accomplished the reason for engaging the girl in the first place. He had not learned the location of Jeff Andonuts yet. And from the look of things, he was not likely to get that information at all. Heck, he was beginning to wonder if the girl was merely jerking his chain, and the chains of Ness and Paula for that matter, by telling them she knew where Jeff was located. He had no choice but to continue the battle and hope he managed to get lucky against these psychic children.

The Starman Deluxe jumped backwards as Ness's bat missed him by mere inches. He also evaded a swing from Paula's Non-Stick Fry Pan. He retaliated by firing an energy beam from his visor. Since this energy beam was not PSI or psychic based, it would not be reflected by the psychic counter shield that Paula had erected. The beam struck Ness dead in the chest. Unfortunately, the beam seemed to do little damage to Ness except for scorching his shirt a bit. The Starman Deluxe swore in his own language. Paula must have managed to raise Ness's physical defense while he was considering his options. She had likely done the same for herself and the girl as well. If she had done so enough, then they may as well have had a normal shield up in addition to the psychic counter shield they were already sporting. The Starman grunted in pain as the sharp pang of pain issued from his abdomen. He swore yet again as he heard a cracking sound issue forth from his abdomen. One of his shattered ribs must have punctured something or have been causing more internal damage. It was worse in that he knew that there was little that he could do to the children now. There was only one thing left for him to do. He began to power another Starstorm attack. He could not let Ness and Paula take him alive. Of course, if he was lucky, this attack may even manage to break through Ness, Paula, and the girl's psychic counter shield and do damage to them directly, possibly even kill them. That would take out two members of the Chosen Four and a potentially dangerous girl. It just then occurred to the Starman that his master, Giygas, had had ample opportunity, and power, to kill the two psychic teens at any time. Yet, he had made no move whatsoever. He wondered why that was. Perhaps he had not been so wrong to violate Giygas's order after all. Perhaps he could still retreat from this battle before it was too late. Still, he had an opportunity to deal with a major threat to the plans of the PSI Lords. He had to take advantage of it. And if it failed, all it would cost him was his life, which might not have lasted much longer anyway, since he then coughed up silvery blood into his suit's visor. He was now having trouble breathing. One of his lungs had been punctured. That clinched it in his mind. It was now or never. He powered up the Starstorm attack further, taking it beyond safe levels for PSI Starstorm Alpha. A dozen new orbs were being added to the dozen orbs that were already in existence around him. Not only that, but they were all growing in size. While the Omega level of Starstorm could easily handle the level of energy he was pumping into the attack safely, this version was merely at its Alpha level. He saw Ness and Paula backing up towards the girl. They were going to protect her. He already sensed Paula adding a new layer to her psychic counter shield. Ah well, at least he would go down fighting.

When he was unable to push any more energy into his attack, he unleashed it upon the three children. The green orbs streaked off between the two of sides at incredible speeds. The orbs soon struck a shield scant inches away from Paula, Ness, and the mysterious girl. The stars hung suspended in midair for half a second before rocketing back towards the Starman Deluxe. His psychic counter shield had already been destroyed earlier in the battle when Paula had collapsed it with her PSI Thunder attack, so the Starman had no defense against his reflected attack. Still, that did not mean that he would not try to resist Paula's final attack. As the stars neared, he tried to use PSI Shield Beta, which would raise a counter shield over himself. Unfortunately, he did not have enough psychic energy remaining to raise a psychic counter shield over himself. He then sighed. This was it. The battle was about to end, and there was nothing that he could do about it. He had been defeated by two psychic teens and a mysterious girl. The first star struck near the Starman and exploded, engulfing him in the explosion. The explosion propelled him through the air, and into the second star. The star struck the Starman Deluxe directly in the chest and blew him apart with a single hit. The rest of the stars then proceeded to vaporize the shattered remains of the Starman Deluxe. After the barrage was finished, the road looked like it had gone through a war, and the Starman Deluxe was dead. The battle was over.

At the end of the battle, Ness and Paula turned back to the girl in order to make sure that she was all right. Ness went over and offered her one of his roast beef sandwiches that he had made for a meal should he be hungry during his travels. However, the girl shook her head. She then stared at Ness intently and asked, "Why did you help me?"

This question surprised Ness. "Because you were being attacked by that Starman Deluxe, and I know that the Starmen are evil."

"But you don't know me," she countered, apparently unsatisfied with his answer. "Not only that, but I've been leading you on a merry chase throughout Twoson. You have no reason to want to help me when I've been playing such games with you."

Her change in personality was startling to Ness. However, Paula had already begun to suspect that something was up with this girl.

"So, I ask again, why did you help me?"

"Because the Starmen are evil and they serve evil masters. Any enemy of them is a potential ally of my own," Ness answered, not sure of what to say since his first answer had been the most honest one.

The girl was still unconvinced. "How do you know that I'm not worse than the Starmen and whoever they serve?"

"They want to kill all of humanity," Paula answered for Ness. "It's hard to get worse than genocide." Ness nodded in agreement with Paula's statement.

The girl contemplated the answer for a bit. Then she glanced over Ness, showing her displeasure at the answer. "Okay, last time. Why did you help me? If you answer my honestly, I'll tell you where your friends are. I'll even take you to them."

Ness was at his wits end as to how to answer the girl. His last two answers had been honest. The PSI Aliens and their Starmen servants were evil and they had to be defeated. But even if it had been a mere street gang that had attacked her, he would have gone to her defense. He then gave his final answer. "Because it was the right thing to do."

The girl almost burst into a laugh but managed to hold it in. After a few seconds, she began to get a serious look on her face once more. "Is that your final answer?" she asked in challenge.

"It is," Ness proclaimed.

The girl studied Ness for a few moments and looked him straight in the eye with a serious look on her face. "How foolish," the girl then replied offhandedly. "Your answer's honest, but that still doesn't make you smart." The girl then grinned mischievously once more. "Well then, let the chase continue. This time, it'll be hide and seek. If you manage to find me, I'll tell you where your friend is." The girl gave one final laugh before rocketing off into the distance towards the north. She was headed into Twoson proper. As she was leaving, Ness thought that he could hear the girl's voice whisper on the wind, _Here's a hint. Home is where the heart is_. Ness glanced over at Paula, who also must have heard that whisper. The two of them contemplated what that could mean. Suddenly, it struck Ness. The girl was in either one of two places. The first would be somewhere near Paula's house, the Polestar Preschool, the second would be likely in the hills of Onett. Ness then remembered the house of Lier X. Agerate and how Lier X. Agerate had found the Evil Mani Mani Statue underneath his own house. If anyplace was a good hiding spot for a hide and seek game, or for making a trap, that would be it.

Ness turned to Paula and said, "I think I know where she might be staying."

"Where," Paula asked in reply, not wanting to be kept in suspense.

"The whisper said, 'home is where the heart is.' I think that she is hiding either in the Polestar Preschool, or somewhere close to it, or in the house of Lier X. Agerate in Onett."

Paula considered Ness's answer for a moment before nodding. "It's the best lead we've got at the moment. Let's try my house and its surroundings first since it's closer."

Ness agreed and they quickly rode to Paula's house, meeting no strange creatures along the way. As they entered the city, proper, they could see that it was still as barren as it was from when they had emerged from Peaceful Rest Valley, yesterday. The two teens quickly made their way towards the Polestar Preschool, stopping at the front entrance. Upon dismounting from their bikes, they collapsed them and slung them over their shoulders. The girl may have been willing to give them a hint as to where she was, but they were not going to let down their guard. Upon being saved and having her question answered, she had immediately switched back to her mischievous persona. They would not take the chance of her stealing their bikes while they looked over the house for the girl. One thing definitely bothered Paula about all of this. Since Twoson was devoid of people, and had an eerie darkness cast over it that seemed to interfere with Paula's ability to locate people through telepathy, she would not be able to use her power to find the girl quickly. They would have to search the house the old fashioned way.

The two teens entered Paula's house and immediately searched the ground floor for any sign of the girl. Ness was at first surprised to find desks still upright and positioned as if school was still in session. Ness shook off the thought and proceeded to search for the girl. Upon searching the ground floor, there was no sign of the mysterious girl in the red dress. They then decided that they would cover more ground if they split up. Paula then went upstairs to search for the girl, while Ness went to search in the basement. Upstairs, Paula could still sense Ness so if she found something, or he did, the other would know and be able to go to them to assist should it be necessary. Paula first checked the bathroom and bathtub. Nothing. She then checked in the study next to the bathroom. Again, there was no sign of the girl. Paula began to doubt that the girl was in her house, but Paula would search the house anyway. This girl was a lot more clever than she let on, Paula knew that much. She then checked her parents' bedroom. She first looked under the bed. Nothing. She then checked the closet. Again, there was nothing. She then checked her own room. Her own room had still been tidy. She first checked under her own bed, finding nothing. She then checked her closet to find no sign of the girl in there at all. Still, there were some clothes in there for Paula. She figured that since the adventure might last for quite a while and she might not get a chance to return here until it was finished, she decided to put the rest of her clothes in a suitcase and take it with them for the ride, just in case they would be necessary. One thing Paula did not want was to have her clothes destroyed in a battle, which given the types of enemies they were likely to face, was quite possible. After packing the small suitcase, she then went back downstairs and towards the basement to help Ness search for the girl, assuming he was not already finished.

While Paula had been looking upstairs for the girl, Ness had been diligently searching the basement for any sign of the girl. However, so far, Ness was meeting with no success. Like Paula, he highly doubted that the girl would be in Paula's house, but he still wanted to be thorough in his search for her. Unlike his basement, which had enough junk and stored items that it was able to provide ample places for a person to hide and remain undiscovered, the basement of Paula's house was quite well organized. There was no place for anyone to be able to hide in her basement at first glance. When going into the washer room, he found a small closet that he had almost missed on his way through. He opened the closet, prepared for the girl to jump out and either attack him or just flee, but he found nothing inside. There was nothing down here. The girl was not in Paula's house. He then went back upstairs to see if Paula was finished with her search. When he arrived back upstairs, he saw Paula coming down the stairs. They both shook their heads, answering the unasked question that the other was thinking. With nothing further to do in Paula's house, the two went back outside to continue the search for the girl. Both teens could not help but think that this entire chase had "trap" written all over it.

Outside, the two mounted their bikes once more and continued on their journey through Twoson, searching the surrounding area for the girl. The Pizza Shop and Bus Station were both locked so the two doubted that the girl was in there. Next, they headed to Burglin Park. The stands that were once a mainstay of Burglin Park had vanished. The entire area was left entirely barren. The girl was not here. Ness and Paula then spent a half hour riding throughout town, seeing if there were any suspicious buildings or slums that would make good hiding spots for the girl. There were none. All of the buildings were either locked, as was the case with the hotel, Bicycle Shop, hospital, and department store, or were completely demolished, as was the case with the Chaos Theater. Seeing no reason to remain in Twoson, Ness and Paula then headed towards the northwest and to the forest that connected Twoson to Onett. Now, they knew what city the girl was in. All they had to do was find her. Fortunately, they had a pretty good idea of where she was.

Travel through the forest was free of incident. There were no enemies or other obstacles for Ness and Paula to deal with as they rode to Ness's hometown. Still, Paula was still not at ease. Unlike the tunnel that connected Twoson and Threed, Paula was unable to sense anything of the outside world at all. In fact, she could barely sense Ness at the moment. This was getting very strange. They were getting farther away from Twoson. Her psychic senses should be clearing, not be getting even more clouded. Still, the two of them cycled on. In a few minutes they emerged from the forest and entered Onett. The scene before them shocked both Ness and Paula, for Onett was covered in the same darkness as Twoson.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Upon emerging from the forest, Ness and Paula immediately felt a coldness in the air that was not present in Twoson, despite the darkness that had covered the town. Both Ness and Paula shivered at the sensation. It was much worse for Paula since it was not merely a physical sense of cold, but a psychic one as well. It got so bad that Paula had to actively shut down her passive telepathic senses so that she would not be overwhelmed. She began to writhe and groan. Ness went over to her and asked, "Hey, Paula, are you all right," in a concerned tone.

Paula did not answer Ness immediately. She merely continued to grip her head and stare down. Ness went over to her and hugged here, assuring her that he was there for her. Eventually, she began to calm down. She looked up at him and said, "It's okay. I'm fine now."

"What happened?" Ness asked her, letting her go, wondering if she really was okay.

"The coldness left a psychic sensation. It overwhelmed my passive psychic abilities. I have since shut them off. I should be fine for now. I can still use my psychic attacks such as PSI Thunder, Fire, and Freeze, so you won't have to worry about that." She then gave him a smile, but Ness was quick to notice that it seemed forced. The two then remounted their bikes and continued cycling on. At first, Paula led the way, but Ness hastened his pace, quickly overtaking her and moving forward. Paula then quickened her own pace in order to keep up with Ness. The two traveled north for a few minutes until they found themselves inside of Onett proper.

Just as with Twoson, Onett was now a ghost town. There was nothing here at all, not even a stray cat or dog. That was not all. The mysterious girl, who had been accustomed to greeting and taunting the two psychic teens, was absent. Since this was hide-and-seek, the teens were not too puzzled about her lack of a greeting. Still, they were surprised that she did not taunt them further in other ways. Despite how dark everything was, even though it was still daytime for the rest of the world, except Twoson, the two were still able to see things clearly in front of them. Their vision was in no way impaired at all, which merely made them view this unnatural darkness as something that may well have been psychic, similar to Moonside during the War Against Giygas. The two continued to make their way around town to see if anyone had holed themselves up in any of the shops or business venues. They had doubted that anyone was still around, especially since Twoson had been abandoned when they had discovered the unnatural darkness that had been covering it. Still, it could have also been abandoned due to the invasion of the PSI Aliens. It was also possible that someone was still in Onett.

The two first came upon the bakery, but the building was dark with no signs of activity. Still, Ness and Paula rode their bikes up onto the sidewalk and stopped to peer through the window. Sure enough, there was no one visible in the bakery at all. However, Ness had noticed that the cash register still seemed to be on, and there was a flashing computer screen coming from behind the counter. The two then went a ways west and came upon the arcade. The doors to the arcade were open so Ness decided to get off his bike and see if anyone was inside. He suggested that Paula stay, just in case the mischievous girl came to make their game a bit more difficult by stealing or destroying their bikes. Ness dismounted his bike and went into the arcade.

Inside the arcade, Ness found that the place had been barren. Even so, though, the machines and the arcade games themselves were still functioning, just like the computer and cash register had in the bakery. It was then that Ness noticed that one of the games had a character that was stuck on a screen that had been cleared of enemies and was motioning the player to move the character forward. Ness stepped up to the game and pushed the joystick to the right to move the character, just to see if it was still functioning properly. The character moved with Ness's input and Ness then let go of stick, seeing that the character in the game had moved. Ness then left the game to search the rest of the arcade, leaving the character in the game to be graphically mauled by various monsters. Continuing on his search, he moved on to the counter. He saw a set of tickets that must have been won at a skee ball game on the counter, as well as a massive Ultra Plush Teddy Bear. He knew that such a bear would make a good shield for him and Paula in whatever upcoming fight they were likely to partake in. However, Ness soon considered the person who had likely won the bear and decided against taking the bear. He did not really need it. He was confident that he could defeat any enemy that came at him possibly short of Giygas himself. He went back into the back yard of the arcade and saw that it, too, had been abandoned with no trace of anyone there. It seemed that wherever this darkness had occurred, people were disappearing. Ness was beginning to get even more suspicious of the girl now, since his mind was on the subject of the mysterious darkness. If his suspicions about the girl turned out to be true, and he had a feeling that they were, the search for the mysterious girl took on a whole different scale. Ness had a feeling that whatever was going on with this darkness, that she was at the center of it. And if she was, and she was an enemy, he would not be surprised if she had caused everyone in Onett and Twoson to disappear. Ness only hoped that once he found the girl, that he would be able to find everyone else in Onett and Twoson as well, especially Jeff, his own family and the families of Paula, Jeff, and Poo. With nothing further to do in the arcade, Ness left the building. Upon exiting, he shook his head towards Paula. Paula knew that that meant that Ness had found no one in the arcade. He then went over to his bike, mounted it and continued on.

Ness figured that it was useless to continue to explore the city and he decided to pedal straight to his house. The trip through downtown Onett was uneventful. There were no enemies to speak of, familiar or otherwise. At certain intervals he glanced over to Paula to see if she could sense anything strange, or anything at all for that matter. Every time, she shook her head slightly. That did not matter much, though. He had expected as much. What would have surprised him would have been if Paula had sensed something.

It took them a while to make it to Ness's house, but the trip had been pretty uneventful. As always, the two of them rode in silence. There was nothing really to say that had not already been said before. All they could do now was find the girl, and hope that they were not going to have to fight her. Ness had a feeling that she would be a much more difficult opponent than she seemed to be at first. Had the darkness not been covering the city and the girl not lured them with the promise of finding their friends, they probably would not have been peddling to Ness's house and would not have been chasing after the girl. They would likely have been on their way to Threed. It did not help that neither Ness nor Paula were good at making small talk, even with each other. They tended to not say anything unless they had something that needed to be said.

Meanwhile, Giygas was following the two human teens from a distance in the air. Using his psychic abilities to cloak himself, he rendered himself invisible to the naked eye. He also used his own telepathy to shield himself from being sensed by other psychics. Still, even though he felt as if he had no worry about being found, his mind was still racing. He was disappointed that Starman Deluxe Beta had taken matters into his own hands and engaged the girl in battle, and had been beaten by the Good Samaritans, Ness and Paula. That was not what he was angry, or more to the point, concerned, about. What concerned him was the fact that the Starman Deluxe had not managed to kill the girl or glean any information from her. Starman Deluxe Beta had been one of Giygas's most trusted advisors. He would not have rushed in against that girl unless he had a very good reason to do so. That made Giygas all that much more concerned about her. Who was this girl? Why could he not sense her reliably? What powers was this girl hiding? Could she even be a Magic Lord, or in her case, Lady? Giygas had no answer to any of those questions, which is what concerned him the most. Giygas was a control freak and liked to plan things to the letter. He could be easily flustered if things did not go according to plan and he had no real contingencies. Still, not all hope was lost. After all, this girl was being followed by Ness and Paula. They could answer his questions for him. All he had to do was follow them and wait, and not be detected in the process.

It took the two psychics ten minutes to ride to the hills of Onett, and to Ness's house. They made their way towards the Onett Library and then proceeded to make a right when the road forked. The two then rode past a small forest and followed the road all the way to Ness's house. Again, the journey was free of any incident. Still, the lack of any enemies gave the two no comfort at all. The darkness that pervaded Onett was more than chilling enough. Lesser kids, and even adults, would have likely fled in terror from Onett at this time, but not Ness and Paula. If there was one thing that both of them had in spades it was courage. They could handle whatever was thrown at them. And they knew that their own courage and mental fortitude would soon be put to the test. They both knew that they would not solve this mystery without getting involved in a fight of some sort. It was just how the world was, for them.

After a few minutes, the two reached Ness's house. The teens pulled up to the front steps, quickly dismounted their bikes, and went inside. The inside of Ness's house was the same as he had left it earlier when he had left to go in search of Paula and the others. Despite the clue that the mysterious girl had given Ness and Paula, they both doubted that she would be here. Still, just as with Paula's house, they wanted to cover all of their bases. As before, they decided to split the duty. Ness would check the upstairs while Paula would check the downstairs and basement. Ness then made his way upstairs. He soon came to the hallway that had three doors. The first door led to his sister, Tracy's, room. He entered her room and quickly scanned the interior. It was furnished with a pink bed, tables, and even a pink cabinet dresser. The only thing that was not some shade of pink was the nightstand. No mysterious girl was found. He quickly retreated back out into the hallway and went through the second door on the left. This was the bathroom.

The interior of the bathroom had no sign of the girl. All that was left was to check the bathtub, something he was not looking forward to doing. He winced as he approached to check the tub. If the girl had been hiding in the bathtub, this would be quite awkward for Ness, which was why Ness had to check. It would actually be the perfect hiding place for the girl since she was quite mischievous, and he was not a pervert of any sort and would be quite uncomfortable if he had found her there. Not only that, but due to Ness's awkward feelings and worry about finding the girl in the bathtub, it would have also been a great point for her to ambush Ness should she really be an enemy and wish him harm. Fortunately, the mysterious girl was not in the bathtub. That only left his bedroom. He then retreated from the bathroom and went down to the door at the end of the hallway. He turned the knob and went on in.

The inside of his bedroom was just as he had left it. Unlike Tracy, who had everything in her room painted pink, Ness's room was painted blue. He had a small blue table, a blue bed, and even a blue lamp. As he suspected, the girl was not here. Assuming that Paula did not find the girl in the basement, then that only left one likely option, Lier X. Agerate's house. Ness then retreated back into the hallway and went downstairs.

Meanwhile, Paula had been checking out the basement. Unlike the basement of her house, there were a ton of hiding places for anyone down here. It was like a maze of boxes, shelves, and other junk. Paula could have sworn that the basement was functioning just like an attic. Still, she did not have time to think about the state of the basement of Ness's house. She simply scanned everywhere she could to see if there was any trace of the girl. Of course, there was none. It was almost getting annoying. After a few minutes of searching, and finding no trace of the girl, Paula decided to go back upstairs and report on her lack of findings.

Back upstairs, Paula found that Ness had completed his search as well. "Did you find anything?" she asked. She doubted that he did. Her thoughts were confirmed when he shook his head.

"No," Ness responded.

"So it seems as if the only other option is this Lier X. Agerate's house. Do you know where it is?"

Ness nodded. "His house is farther up in the hills. Lier X. Agerate has since moved away from Onett and the house is now abandoned. It's now always locked. It also has a tunnel dug underneath it by Lier X. Agerate. At the time he dug the tunnel, he had been looking for treasure. He had found the Evil Mani Mani Statue instead. It's the best place to look and we'll know if there's anything suspicious if it's unlocked."

"Sound's like a plan," Paula responded as the two of them exited Ness's house. "Let's go."

Outside, the two teens mounted their bikes once again and headed west and up into he hills of Onett. Ness's street seemed to be deserted and the houses were noticeably dark, just as the rest of the town had been. The two rode in silence. Ness's concern for his parents was his driving focus, but he was also concerned about everyone else in Onett as well. He had a lot of friends in Onett and he wanted to know what had happened to them. He prayed that somehow, they had managed to leave Onett and get beyond Twoson and into Threed before the darkness had covered the two towns, but he doubted that outcome. Now all he and Paula could do was track down the girl and be ready for whatever she threw at them. He hoped that the girl was simply being mischievous, but he had a bad feeling that she was much more than what she seemed, and that she was going to turn out to be an enemy. Ness and Paula soon came to the end of the deserted street and turned right, heading deeper into the hills of Onett.

As they rode further into the hills, the air felt like it had gotten even colder, despite the fact that the temperature had not changed. The two of them were getting a really bad feeling about what was happening. After three minutes of cycling, the two came near the top of the largest hill in Onett. In the distance, Ness saw the crater that had been left by the meteorite that had crashed into the hill three years ago, beginning his first adventure. Not far away from the hill's peak, Ness also saw a small, wooden cabin. That cabin had once belonged to Lier X. Agerate. Since Lier X. Agerate had since left Onett to try to make some more money in Las Vegas, the small house had been put up for sale and had always been locked. Ness quickly noticed that there seemed to be activity in the house, since smoke was rising from its chimney. This caught the attention of Ness and Paula and they hastened their trek towards the house.

It did not take long for the two to arrive at the house. When they did, they dismounted from their bikes and went towards the front door. Ness went first, followed by Paula. Ness tentatively stuck his hand out towards the door. He grabbed its knob and turned. He heard a click and he pushed the door open. The door swung open and Ness and Paula made their way into the house. The inside of the house was almost completely unfurnished save for a small table in the corner and for the lit fireplace. There, they saw the girl, facing the fireplace.

The girl turned to face Ness and Paula and smiled, though there was no warmth in her smile. "So, you two kids finally found me," she said with scorn. "Took you long enough."

"Okay, we found you," Ness told her. "Now tell us where our friends are," he commanded.

The girl gave a high-pitched laugh in response. "Why would I do that?" she cackled. "I said I'd tell you where your friends are when you managed to catch me. All you've done is manage to find me. I could still flee right now if I wanted to," she proclaimed arrogantly.

"Don't underestimate us," Paula warned. "We're not Starmen."

The girl grinned. "I know." She then paused for a few moments before continuing, "You're only a little smarter than them."

Ness did not like this at all. The girl seemed to be confident in her ability to take him and Paula in a fight, despite them having to saving her from a Starman Deluxe, or that's the way it looked. Ness was not certain that she had ever been in any real trouble anymore. "Be careful Paula," Ness warned quietly. "This girl is powerful."

Paula nodded, acknowledging that she felt it too. "Finally, someone's growin' a brain cell," the girl cheered, clapping her hands in applause. "Oh yeah, I'm definitely powerful…far more so than you can imagine." The girl then paused before explaining herself further. "Not long ago, I came to this house playing hide and seek with my friends. While hiding in the house, I found a secret tunnel that led me to a crystal of incredible beauty and power. As such, I touched it and felt a strange and exhilarating sensation rush through me. Afterwards, I left the tunnel. At first, I only noticed little things. I was able to predict when someone was close to finding me, knowing when my parents were paying attention to whether or not I was doin' my homework and other things, or not, gettin' out of trouble when I had been caught in mischief, etcetera. Slowly, but surely, my powers grew. I was soon able to move things purely by willing it. I could control minds, beat people who tried to hurt me, taking out a Neo Shark was quite fun, if you know what I mean. Still, I was scared about what might happen if I was ever discovered. I didn't know what anyone would do if they knew I had power. Would they sell me to scientists to be dissected? Would they use me as a weapon? Would they look at me as an outcast? What would happen to me?" Here, the girl looked down at her feet, and a sad look crossed her face at the mention of her fear of having her new powers being discovered. She then looked back up at Ness and Paula and her face split into grin. "So the only way to ensure that my secret was never discovered, and to make sure that nothing unpleasant ever happened because someone discovered my powers, was to make everyone who knew about me or could have figured out my secret go away." With that, she spread her arms out, as if in celebration. She made it look like she thought that the solution to her problem was brilliant. Ness and Paula were aghast at what the girl was admitting to. For all they knew, the girl had just admitted to killing everyone in Onett and Twoson. And there was also the possibility that their friends and family members were among the dead or lost. The girl noticed the shocked expressions on Ness and Paula's faces and grinned again. It was not long before she continued, "The problem is that while everyone else has disappeared, you haven't." She pointed at Ness and Paula, accusingly. "You've always remained. Despite everything I've tried with the crystal's power, you won't disappear. Why won't you go away like everyone else? Why? Why? Why?"

The girl's speech shocked Ness and Paula. She was the one who had done all of this. Not only that, but she apparently had gotten rid of everyone else. Whether or not this was merely a euphemism for having killed everyone, they did not know. It was Paula who spoke first, "When you say you made everyone 'go away', do you mean that you sent them somewhere else or did you kill them?"

The girl then grinned and assumed a fighter's stance and did not answer immediately. "What do you think?" the girl eventually asked cruelly. Paula merely glared at her for a moment before softening her expression.

"Answer my question, please," Paula begged. "Tell us where our friends and family are. That's why we've been chasing after you to begin with. Tell us where they are, or even what happened to them, and we'll leave you alone."

"Why? You never answered mine!" the girl lashed out verbally, jabbing her finger at Paula. "You wanna know the location of your friends, families, and the people of Onett and Twoson, then beat me in battle! Not that you have a chance of beating me." The girl then began to cackle maniacally.

"Hold on!" Ness cried, raising his hands in order to try to stop the fight before it began. "We don't want to fight, we just want to know where everyone is."

"But I do," the girl countered, calming down from her mad laugh. She clenched her fist and opened it again, flexing her hands. "I have so wanted to do this for a long time. If I can't make you disappear the normal way, I'll have to kill you instead. I'm gonna enjoy tearing the two of you apart piece by piece until you are nothin' but human debris littering the floors of this cave!"

With that, the girl stretched out her hand towards Ness and Paula. The two psychic teens were immediately rocketed through the air and into the wall of the cabin. They left an indent in the wall as they collided with it and then slid down the wall and to the floor. There, they slumped over on the floor, dazed but not severely injured. The girl cackled. "Hahahahaha! You might not disappear the normal way like the rest, but you're definitely not that much stronger than they are! Now die before the might of me, Hannah!" With her proclamation, fireworks exploded in the background, as if in celebration of what Hannah was about to accomplish.

With that the girl, Hannah, stretched out her hand. However, Ness had already recovered from his recent flight and crash and he stretched out his hand as well. A distortion could be seen in the air in the middle of the room where the two telekinetic forces collided with each other. After a second, the girl soon found herself leaving the safety of the floor and rocketing into the air, sailing backwards towards the fireplace. The girl struck the wall and fell to the floor, leaving a noticeable series of dents and cracks in the wall. The girl was slow to rise, but when she did, she faced down the heroes once again, her face a mask of rage and surprise.

Her eyes glowed an eerie white as she stretched out her hands again. Paula, knowing that a psychic attack was imminent, raised a PSI Shield Omega over herself and Ness. What happened next, though, surprised them both. Lightning crackled between the girl's fingertips and she began to grin sadistically. _Does this girl have the ability to use normal PSI as well as telekinesis_? Paula wondered. She knew that she had no time to worry about that, though. She had to find some way to counter the girl's lightning attack and fast. Ness was fine since he had a Franklin Badge, but Paula was not so lucky in that regard. Not only that, but PSI Thunder also had the ability to collapse and breach psychic shields and counters so the psychic counter shield that she had erected over Ness and herself might be useless, and collapse soon. Paula soon generated her own PSI Thunder attack, in preparation for the Hannah's attack. Hannah launched her bolt of lightning first, though it was not against Paula. As if she had sensed what Paula was doing, she targeted the lightning attack toward Ness. The lightning that had crackled across her fingers now erupted towards Ness with terrifying force. The air crackled and hissed as the stream of lightning rocketed towards the boy. Unfortunately, for Hannah, she did not know that Ness was wearing a Franklin Badge or what it was capable of, but she was soon educated in its use.

The lightning crossed the distance between the girl and Ness and struck him in the chest. However, a metallic clang sounded as the lightning struck his body and the stream of electricity was reflected back at the girl. Hannah swore as her own lightning attack rocketed towards her. The lightning struck her in the chest electricity arced across her entire body as the main stream of lightning left a large burn on the girl's chest. Hannah screamed in agony as her reflected attack struck her and its electricity was arcing all over her body. The lightning eventually dissipated into tiny blue sparks which soon gave out and the girl fell to her knees and then to the ground, seemingly dead. Just then, a glowing purple sphere with fairy-like wings began to rise from the girl's body and began to fly around her. A sound like wind chimes sounded as the tiny creature flew around the girl. Ness and Paula could tell that this new creature was some form of energy being and that it was healing the girl of her injuries. Instantly, the girl's wound closed and the scorch marks around her entire body faded, a patch of bare skin the only sign that she had ever been injured by the lightning attack. Hannah then rose to face Ness and Paula once more.

Alternative options now raced through the girl's mind. Ness had been protected from her psychic attack by some special shield. However, it did not seem to block that Starman Deluxe's Starstorm, since the girl had raised a psychic counter shield over him in that battle to protect her from the attack. As for here, Hannah knew that lightning attacks were effective against psychic shields and counters, so the question was why did her attack on Ness get reflected back at her, especially after it had penetrated his counter shield? Still, there was the possibility that Paula might have one of those special shields that had protected Ness, since she knew that whatever had protected Ness was not a normal shield or psychic shield. No, this was something special that did not cancel out other shields, and was also not canceled by the raising of other shields. Hannah decided that her best option was to try a different attack.

She soon focused her attention on Paula. She raised her hands to her face and performed a series of signs with her hands, forming strange formations with her fingers with every movement. Paula could sense the welling of power in her body, rising first from her chest and then towards her mouth. She also felt only one sensation: burning. The girl was going to use a fire attack. Before Hannah could finish the series of signs required to use the fire attack, Paula stretched out her hand and unleashed a torrent of water-based psychic energy. PSI Torrent streaked towards the girl just as flames appeared in her mouth. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the oncoming tsunami of psychic water, but she was not perturbed. She had a great deal of power, and if anything went wrong, she could retreat underground and go to the crystal for more power. She unleashed her flames against Paula's water, but it may as well have been a person blowing into an oncoming hurricane in order to stop the opposing wind for all the good her attack did. It was instantly overpowered by Paula's PSI Torrent and the water crashed onto the girl, its current crashing her against the wall. There, she fell to the ground and remained there without moving a muscle.

Once the psychic water had receded, the two psychics noticed Hannah laying down on the floor. They could hear her crying. "It hurts," she sobbed. "Why does it hurt so much?" she whimpered pathetically. Ness and Paula then began to near her, not really knowing what to do. They had not intended to hurt her, but they were not going to let her kill them. Besides, they needed to know where their friends were. As they neared Hannah, she suddenly began to cry out in agony and clutch her head. Suddenly her head felt like it was about to explode, the pain was becoming so great. A dark wind began to sweep through the cabin as the girl's hair swished in the wind. She rose to her feet, screaming in agony and power. Her eyes had gone completely white. "Aaah, oooh," she began to cry out in an inhuman voice. "What is this? Why does everything hurt? Why can't I think anymore?" Her ramblings began to become even more disjointed. "Too much noise! Too much pain! Make it stop!" she cried out at the top of her lungs. Ness and Paula focused on the girl, unsure of what to do or if they should do anything. One thing was certain, though, the girl's ramblings were beginning to disturb them. And Paula was quickly getting the sensation that there was something else here besides the three of them. Hannah eventually began to quiet down, but she was still holding her head, muttering gibberish to herself. Eventually, she fled to the back of the cabin and reached for a knob on the ground. She turned it and then pulled open a trapdoor. She then fled down the trapdoor, sobbing hysterically as she ran. Seeing no alternatives, Ness and Paula followed after the girl.

The two entered the trapdoor and climbed down the ladder and into a tunnel that Ness remembered from when Lier X. Agerate had shown Ness the Evil Mani Mani Statue three years ago. As they climbed down the ladder, though, everything seemed to get darker and darker. Ness glanced back at Paula to see if she felt anything. Her eyes were practically wide with terror as she climbed down the ladder in almost robot-like fashion. Tears streamed down her face, but she still followed Ness down the ladder. Ness, however, was quite concerned for Paula now. He stopped and looked up at her.

"What's wrong Paula?" he asked her, for he knew that something was not right with her.

"The power," Paula stammered. "It's so dark down here. It's unnatural, just like Giygas three years ago, only this time, it's affecting my mind."

"Will you be okay?"

Paula gave no answer. Ness looked back up at her and asked again, "Are you alright?"

That time, Paula gave an answer. She shook her head and the tears stopped flowing. "Yeah," she said in a shaky voice. "I'm fine now. I'll be fine to go on. The sensation, it just overwhelmed me."

The two of them climbed the rest of the way down and arrived at the entrance to the tunnel underneath the small house. When Paula had finished climbing down the ladder, he turned to face her and asked again, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes," Paula assured her friend. "I'm fine now. I was just surprised by the dark power. I had expected a psychic assault, not whatever this power down here is. I was almost expecting it to be a remnant of Giygas, the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas, when Hannah stared babbling. I'm not so sure it's him anymore. It may be something else entirely."

"Okay," Ness replied, calming down inside a bit. Still, he was uneasy about Paula going along with him. He did not want whatever was down here to attack her mind and kill her. He knew deep down that if anyone were in danger of having his or her minds attacked, it would be him since he was telekinetic rather than telepathic. But he did not want Paula to be put into too much danger. Still, he knew that if he was going to fight this girl, or whatever was down here, he would need her help. The two of them then proceeded to make their way down the tunnel.

The tunnel was dark and foreboding, despite the fact that there was nothing here. Paula sporadically activated her passive psychic senses as an early warning system for herself and Ness, making sure to not keep them on for too long in case whatever enemy was ahead of them tried to attack her by using her own scan. One thing was for certain, though. This place was creepy beyond imagining for the kids.

As the two moved forward, the tunnel got even darker. It was not long before it was pitch black. Ness powered a weak ball of PSI Rockin in his hand in to function as a flashlight. A reddish hue showed the outline of the walls of the tunnel as they walked. Paula's eyes focused on Ness's psychic flashlight and kept close to him. Soon, Paula approached Ness and gripped his hand tightly and did not let go. Ness gripped her hand back and they looked into each other's eyes. With that single glance, they both silently vowed that they would stand by each other and be there for the other, no matter what was waiting for them at the end of this tunnel. Holding hands, they moved forward inch by inch, not letting go for fear of getting separated in the darkness of the tunnel. Onward they trudged through the darkness. Paula extended her psychic sense again for a split second to see if there was anything ahead. Again, she sensed nothing at all. However, she did not think that the place was abandoned and was prepared for any enemy encounter. She looked over at Ness and indicated that while she did not sense anything at the moment, there was still the strong chance that there was an enemy presence close by.

Eventually the tunnel opened up into an underground cave. There was a long stone catwalk ahead that led across a dark chasm. An eerie red light was emanating from the deep chasm below. The two teens did their best not to focus on the light and merely on crossing the dark chasm. As they were walking, a creepy ambient sound began to echo around them. It sounded as if the air was whispering something incoherently at the teens. The two continued to move forward with apprehension. _This had better be worth it_, Ness thought with a small grumble. Paula was more worried about how Hannah's mischievous game of hide and seek had turned into nightmare fuel and what was up ahead of them.

Up ahead of them, the two teens saw what appeared to be figures in the distance on the catwalk. They rushed forward to see what the figures were. As they approached, they found that they were nothing more than ghostly apparitions of the girl in different outfits. One was in a school uniform, another was in a green long sleeved sweater and long skirt, while a third was in a t-shirt with blue shorts. Each of these ghosts were rambling on about something. Ness approached one of the ghostly figures of the girl, the one with the school uniform, and listened to it speak.

"The voice…it keeps speaking, saying the same things…over and over again. But I can't hear what it's saying. What's it saying?" the ramblings began to get more desperate and disjointed as he listened on. The ghost then looked directly at him, but it did not seem to notice the two teens at all. Ness then moved onto the next ghost.

The next ghost was the one in the green shirt and long skirt. "Why? It hurts…my body is numb, weak. I feel nothing…nothing except pain. Arrrrgggh!"

Ness recoiled when the ghost screamed. He then moved on to the third and final ghost in this area. This one had a look of absolute terror on its face. "Make it go away. Make it stop. Get it out of me. Help me, please," it begged. As Ness neared the ghost, he could see something coming into being behind the ghost. It looked like there was a gaseous ghost forming behind the ghost of the girl. The ghost of the girl stared into the eyes of Ness and the gaseous figure congealed into a red screaming face. Ness gasped as he saw the figure of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer standing behind the ghost of the girl. Was this all due to a remnant of Giygas? He could not see how that was possible. The Cave of the Past was in Deep Darkness, far away from Onett. Ness and Paula quickly moved on past the ghosts.

The path did not go on much farther. The two psychics could already see an opening into a cave at the other end of the catwalk. Paula extended her psychic senses and found that the Hannah was inside the cave. Paula was actually surprised that she managed to sense the ten year old girl in the cave. That meant that whatever power she had used to shield herself from Paula's scan was now gone, or it was no longer needed because she had an even greater power at her disposal now. The two teens also noticed an orange light coming from the cave. It was not flickering the way a fire would, so they suspected that it was either technological, which was unlikely, or had a different source of origin. Perhaps it was this crystal that Hannah had mentioned when she told them about how she had gotten her powers.

Within a minute, the two psychics arrived in the cave. Indeed, the cave was being lit by a large crystal sitting on top of a stone spire at the center of the room. Hannah stood before the crystal and turned to face the heroes as they entered the mouth of the cave. Her lips were twisted into a grin and her glittering white teeth showed in the darkness.

"So, you two finally found me, didn't you," she sneered. "I'll say right now that what you faced up there wasn't anything close to my true power." The girl reached towards the crystal. Her hand touched the crystal and energy poured from the crystal and into Hannah. Energy arced from the interior of the crystal and into Hannah. After a second, she withdrew her hand from the crystal and turned back to the heroes. "Now you will die." And with that, Hannah charged Ness and Paula.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Hannah began the fight by charging straight for Ness. She curled her right hand into a fist and pulled back her arm like a spring until it was behind her, ready to be unleashed against her target. Ness crouched into a fighter's stance and prepared to move from Hannah's obviously telegraphed attack. When Hannah was within striking distance she let loose with her punch. Ness was too fast for her, and her attack was too telegraphed. Ness stepped to one side and let Hannah's fist fly past his head. Ness countered with a punch to the girl's abdomen. The punch did not have much strength behind it and was not even powered by Ness's considerable psychic power. Hannah gave off a grunt as she was forced to exhale the air within her lungs by Ness's fist. Hannah attempted to launch a second attack by performing a spinning back heel kick at Ness's head. This attack also met with little success, as Ness ducked beneath the attack. Hannah's attack had left her open to a variety of moves, but Ness felt it best to just go with a simple leg sweep. He ducked down and used his own leg to sweep Hannah off her feet. Hannah gave a cry as she fell to the ground. She hit the ground with a thud and gave a grunt. She quickly rose and retreated back a few steps away from Ness. The brief exchange of attacks had taught her that fighting Ness in hand-to-hand combat was a bad idea. Not only that, but Paula was behind Ness, waiting in the wings. The only reason she had not entered the fight was because she was there for support and to attack only if Ness needed her help. Hannah knew that her only option would be the ranged game. The problem was that her attack could easily be reflected back at her with Paula's psychic counter shield. Not only that, but the one attack that could penetrate a psychic counter was useless against Ness due to some strange shield of an unknown source that was erected over Ness. Not only that, but Ness was fast. Chances were that if she targeted Paula, Ness would intercept the attack before it struck Paula and that would end in disaster for Hannah.

Hannah then looked over to the crystal and contemplated drawing more power from it. That would be a risky proposition, though. Her close proximity to the crystal was already strengthening her power, and she had already drawn some power from the stone. Drawing in more could cause harm to her body. No, she would refrain from drawing any more energy from the crystal until she had no other choice. It just was not worth the risk…yet. She then decided to focus her next attack on Paula. A flame formed in her hand, but this was not a psychic flame. It was magical, and thus, would not be reflected by any psychic counter shields that Paula could raise. Hannah unleashed the magical ball of flame against Paula, but the older girl was too quick. She danced around the ball of flame and it sailed past her well to her left. It exploded harmlessly a dozen or so yards away from Paula. Paula responded by launching a bolt of PSI Thunder toward Hannah. Lightning erupted from her fingertips and streaked towards Hannah. Hannah tried to evade, but the lightning was attracted to her body like a magnet. The lightning struck her and she cried out in agony as electricity arced across her body. She writhed while the lightning was playing across her body and after a few seconds fell to her knees after the lightning dissipated.

She looked up at the psychic girl, her eyes glowing an unnatural purple as she seethed with rage and hatred. She had had enough. She immediately rose and ran straight for Paula. Ness instantly appeared in front of Paula and intercepted the charging girl. Hannah chanted a spell in an alien language that Ness thought he may have recognized. Paula quickly attempted to scan Hannah's mind in order to find out what she was doing. Surprisingly, she was able to see inside her mind and she discovered that Hannah's spell increased her own strength and resistance to physical attacks, as well as increasing Hannah's speed and reaction time.

Paula telepathically relayed the information to Ness, who acknowledged her with a slight nod of his head. Hannah then began the battle anew with a second charge. Sure enough, she came in much faster this time, her first attack a punch directed at Ness's head. Her hand came in too fast for him to be able to dance out of her way this time, but he was still fast enough to raise his own arm to deflect her blow. He retaliated with a palm strike, something Poo had taught him on some of the rare occasions that they had met in the last three years, at Hannah's head. Evidently, Hannah had some martial arts skills, for she was able to parry Ness's blow and try to trap him in an arm bar. She grabbed his arm and tried to yank it behind his head, but Ness was still too strong for her. He was able to move his arm and draw the girl off balance. He then performed a side kick to Hannah's chest and sent her reeling backwards. Ness finished this part of the fight by sending a wall of telekinetic energy at Hannah. Hannah tried to chant another spell, likely to raise a shield of some sort against Ness's attack, but before she could even get out a squeak, she found herself sailing through the air once more. She flew past the crystal from which she had drawn her power and landed a few yards away from the source of her power. She struck the ground with her head and was dazed. She was fortunate that she had increased her own defense with her first spell, for if she had struck the ground without that enhancement, she would likely have had a shattered skull and would have been either severely injured or killed. Still, as it was she was only dazed, but she had still hit the ground hard and she felt a stinging sensation on the top of her head, as well as having a headache. She felt the top of her head and felt something wet. She withdrew her hand and looked at it and found that it was stained with blood. Sure enough, blood started to seep out of an injury on her head and run around her eyes and down her cheeks. Despite having raised her own defenses, she had still suffered a head injury.

She then stood up and quickly used a PSI ability, Lifeup Alpha, to heal the most immediate damage to herself. The wound on the top of her head closed and blood no longer flowed from it. The blood that was on her face was already beginning to dry. She wiped it out of her eyes and focused her attention on the two psychic teens that were now forming a line, with Ness out in front.

Hannah considered using a psychic attack other than PSI Thunder against them, but she felt that Paula would likely realize what she was doing and raise a shield of some sort to stop it. And if she tried to use PSI Thunder on the older girl, Ness would merely step in front of the attack and she would be hit by her own attack again. She briefly considered using magical lightning against Ness and Paula, but again, there was the likelihood of Ness reflecting the lightning back at her with that strange shield over his body. Wait; there was an option still open to her! Her eyes flashed and her face twisted into a grin at the realization that she was not beaten yet.

Hannah immediately started chanting a spell, quietly so as not to raise Ness and Paula's suspicions on what she was trying. After a few seconds, the spell was complete. A ball of flame the size of a grape immediately appeared in front of Hannah. Hannah then stretched out her hands and proceeded to add more power to the ball of flame and it grew larger as a result. First it grew into the size of a baseball, then a grapefruit, then a beach ball. After a few seconds, it was the size of a small boulder. Hannah cackled as the fireball grew in size. Once it had stopped growing, she cried out in a loud voice, "Try dodging this idiots!"

She then unleashed the boulder of magical flame in the direction of Ness and Paula. Unfortunately, for Hannah, Ness and Paula had surmised that she would not launch a psychic attack against them, due to seeing Paula's psychic counter shield. As a result, Ness had raised a Shield Omega over the two of them when Hannah had started to power her magical ball of flame. The ball of flame crossed the distance between Hannah and the two psychics and struck the shield that Ness had erected over himself and Paula. The shield flared like a field of lightning around Ness and Paula when the boulder of fire impacted. The ball of flame was suspended in midair for a second as the shield flared before it was sent back at Hannah. Hannah's eyes went wide in shock as she saw her own attack get reflected by Ness's shield. She cursed as she attempted to flee the blast radius of her own attack. She dove to her right and tried to run away from the ball of fire. The ball of flame exploded behind her and to her left in an expanding wall of flame. At first, she was able to keep ahead of the expanding wall, but it was closing in on her fast. She then used her psychic power to raise a shield over herself. She knew that it would not completely protect her against her own attack, but if it could blunt the blow and allow her to survive, she would be happy with that.

The wall of flame quickly washed over Hannah and the force of the wave sent her flying, her shield flaring over her body as the wave struck. She sailed a few yards in the air. While her shield had kept the flames from managing to touch her, the heat generated by the flames was still able to seep through. Her skin began to sear and she could see welts and blisters forming on her exposed arms and the exposed parts of her legs. The pain was intolerable and she cried out in agony as she was literally being cooked by her own fire. As if things were not bad enough, her shield was also flaring as she bounced on the ground. Having already taken damage from the explosion of fire, itself, the impacts of her bouncing were damaging her shield even further. If her shield collapsed now, she would be burned alive.

Eventually, the flames began to dissipate. When they had disappeared, lying in a part of a small, glass-like crater was Hannah. She was curled up in the fetal position and, while Ness and Paula did not know it, she was crying and cursing.

"Damn it," she barely managed to spit as tears rolled down her eyes, which were close to being completely burned off by her own attack. Her face was now covered in brown smudge marks, soot, and burns. The skin of her arms and legs was practically burned off at certain parts by the fire, while others merely looked to have suffered third degree burns. The only saving grace was that the fire had cauterized most of the wounds that had broken the skin so she would not bleed to death. Hannah knew that if she did not do something soon, though, she would die. She used Lifeup Alpha once more to stabilize herself and hopefully heal some of the more grievous injuries. She managed to regenerate the parts of her skin that had been flayed by the fire and gain enough strength to crawl over to the crystal.

Hannah tried to rise to walk, but every time she rose, she merely fell back to the ground. Slowly but surely, she managed to crawl over to the crystal. Ness and Paula had quickly surmised that the crystal was the source of her power so before she had arrived, Ness and Paula used their psychic attacks, PSI Rockin and PSI Fire respectively, on the crystal. Much to their amazement, though, the crystal absorbed the full force of their psychic assault and suffered no damage at all. By this time, Hannah had managed to reach the crystal. Ness quickly stepped between the crystal and Hannah and drew out his bat. When he saw how badly injured Hannah was he gasped in shock. Paula was also shocked at the ten year old girl's injuries. Hannah used his moment of hesitation to fire a stream of PSI Fire at Ness. Even though Ness did not have the ability to raise a psychic shield, he could use his telekinesis for just such a purpose in a pinch. Since this attack was a psychic attack, Ness's shield was useless in blocking it. Ness tried to run but Hannah's attack managed to strike. He used his telekinesis to keep the flames at bay and used the fact that he was a psychic to great effect in surviving the fires of the attack without any real damage being sustained. Still, the force of the blast sent Ness reeling backwards. He was stopped from hitting the floor by Paula who rushed over to him to make sure that he was okay. Ness emerged from Hannah's attack smoking, but not noticeably injured. Still, her attack had done its job. It had forced Ness away from her while she crawled to the crystal. Hannah tried to grin as Paula went to help her friend. Hannah crawled up to the spire and reached out to touch the crystal. By this time, Ness had recovered and was making his way towards Hannah, it was already too late. Hannah had reached the crystal. Hannah's hand touched the crystal and soon pushed its way into the crystal as if it were made out of water.

Hannah cried out in pleasure as power rushed into her from the crystal. Instantly, all of Hannah's wounds healed and she looked as good as new. Even her dress repaired itself and once again reached down to her ankles. Hannah looked into Ness's eyes and began to use her newly enhanced telepathic power to pierce the barriers of Ness's mind and soul. Instantly, Hannah knew everything about Ness. She knew what he liked, what he hated, who his friends were, as well as his enemies. She knew everything he knew about Giygas, and all of his theories surrounding Giygas as well. She also knew of Ness's feelings for Paula and also his feeling towards his family. Nott only that, but she also knew of his little pet peeves, his favorite music, his least favorite music, etcetera. She grinned as she learned everything about him. One thing that she noted quickly was just how much Ness disliked singing. She also knew his least favorite song. This was something she felt she could use against him, especially given that it was something usually sung at funerals.

Just then, Ness's mind was closed to her and she could feel a lot of the information that she had gleaned from his mind being scrambled. She looked up and saw that Paula's eyes were now glowing. She had bolstered Ness's psychic defenses against a telepathic scan. And this was done while also attacking Hannah's mind in her powered up state. Hannah smiled wryly at Paula. Paula had given away something in her defense of Ness. She had demonstrated that she was also powerful and not just a support unit hiding behind Ness. Hannah knew what had to be done now. She then continued to draw power from the crystal.

More energy began to flow into Hannah as she drew more and more of the crystal's power. With each second she had her hand in the crystal, she drew more power from it. It was getting to the point where she was draining the crystal dry. After a few seconds, Ness and Paula began to see a dark shadow appearing around Hannah. At first, it appeared as if it was coming from the crystal as Hannah drew more power from it, but after looking at it for a second, Paula determined that the shadow was emerging from Hannah, herself, not the crystal. Hannah's voice became inhuman as she groaned with each surge of power that entered her body. "Yes, yes, I need more," she said. Her voice however, no longer sounded like a ten year old girl's. Instead, her voice seemed to be combined with something masculine, sinister, and quite alien. Soon, the shadow began to take a humanoid shape. Just then, Hannah focused her eyes on Ness. No longer were her eyes even remotely human. Now, they were glowing golden portals to a power so alien and powerful that it was overwhelming even to look at. The shadow that had been surrounding her now became a source of golden light. Hannah's lips then began to move and a voice that was more beautiful than anything Ness had ever head began to sing a song that Ness hated. He immediately recognized the tune._ It's a hymn from Mass, 'On Eagle's Wings'_, Ness thought hearing the voice sing the song. This surprised Ness greatly, but it also had him worried, especially since this hymn was one hymn that he hated with a passion, almost as much as he hated Porky Minch, and that was saying a lot. He put up his guard and tried to ignore the hymn, but it was to no avail. Paula went over to see what was going on with Ness when Hannah fired a blast of PSI Thunder at Paula. The blast of PSI Thunder struck Paula and sent her reeling backwards, electricity arcing across her body. With Ness fighting the effects of the song, Paula was on her own. She soon rose and powered her own PSI Thunder attack to counter the second blast of Thunder that Hannah was powering, hoping to intercept the attack before it inflicted more damage on her.

_No,_ Ness thought as he felt his strength being drained from him. What was strange, to him, was that the attack did not seem to be affecting his body, and only affected his mind due to the song reverberating through his consciousness. He soon realized that it was the core of his very being, his soul, was what was being attacked here. Ness wondered if it was even possible for his true soul to be attacked by any sort of non-divine power. He tried to fight back, but it was to no avail. He was not telepathic, and he had never experienced such an attack before. He was ill-equipped to deal with this type of attack that struck at his very core, not his body or mind, but his soul. He saw out of the corner of his eye Paula and Hannah battling while he remained here, helpless to assist her. Hannah was trying to attack the stricken Ness, while Paula was defending him with all of her strength. With each word, more of his strength was being drained. He felt as if he was dying. No! His mind and soul raged against the song and the attack and cried out as loudly as possible. He would not be killed by a simple song, especially one that was supposed to be a song of God…even if he _did_ hate its guts, Ness added.

Ness began to fight back in his mind and soul against the song as the next verse began. He would not let whatever magic, psychic, or cosmic power was in this song claim his life. He willed himself to keep fighting in his soul. He would not die here. Ness tried with all of his might to expel the song from his consciousness and repulse the attack. Still, the more he tried to tune it out, the louder it became, and the more he weakened.

Soon, the third verse began to sound all around him, a cacophony that would bring about his death if Hannah had her way. It was getting bad for Ness, now. He was weakening. He could feel the last bits of his strength beginning to leave his body. He fought desperately to hold onto them, for if they left him, he knew he would die. And still, the voice reverberated in his head as it sang.

After the last verse was sung, the song ended, as Ness remembered it, painfully. Still, even after it had ended the first time, the song began again in his mind, even though Hannah, or whatever that voice was that was using Hannah's body, was no longer physically singing the song. It was as if the song was on a never-ending loop. Ness's strength had already been sapped during the first sing-through of _On Eagle's Wings_. The fact that the voice was singing it again only served to drain what little strength Ness had left. _Is this how I'm going to die_? he asked himself. _Am I going to let the song I hate the most actually kill me_? He then paused before he summoned what was left of his strength and cried with his body, mind, and soul, "NO!" With that, Ness prayed from the bottom of his heart for the strength to fight the evil effects of the vocal power that Hannah, or whatever entity was actually singing, was using against him. He prayed more fervently than he had ever prayed before, with a strength that he never knew he had. "Please, Lord, give me the strength to vanquish this evil power. Please help me. I can't do this alone."

His prayer did not go unanswered. A heavenly light immediately washed over Ness. Both Hannah and Paula noticed that the light did not come from the golden light that was surrounding Hannah, or from the crystal. Hannah wondered what this power could possibly be. It was much different than the golden power from the crystal. Not only that, but she could feel it reversing the effects of the song that she had sung and planted inside of Ness to kill him. Even though the singing of the hymn did not quiet yet, Ness felt his strength come back to him. At the very least, he was not in danger of dying anymore. He hoped that he would soon be able to go to Paula's aid.

During Ness's ordeal with the song, Paula had engaged Hannah in a duel of power. Their exchange of lightning attacks left Paula in the position of strength, for her PSI Thunder had managed to overpower Hannah's despite the energy she had drawn from the crystal. This only prompted Hannah to draw more power from the crystal and into herself. The more power Hannah drew into herself, the brighter the golden light surrounding Hannah became. Not only that, but Paula was also noticing that the crystal was also getting darker, and it was also beginning to crack. Hannah was draining the crystal dry in her attempt to beat them. Hannah cried out as she drew the last bits of energy from the crystal and it soon shattered into thousands of shards. The shards then erupted into an unnatural blue flame and the pieces were soon consumed by the flames. Hannah's eyes soon glowed an unnatural gold as she stared at Paula. Hannah curled her hands into fists and uncurled them, flexing her hands. She soon looked at herself and grinned. "Yes," she said, satisfied with what she saw and felt. "I'm not gonna lose this fight." She then faced Paula and Ness, who was still clutching his head. "Looks like the song's still playing in his mind," she noted. That left only Paula.

Paula, knowing what was coming, and knowing that Ness was now very vulnerable to a variety of attacks from Hannah, raised another PSI Shield Omega. The counter shield that she erected over him would hopefully protect him from any psychic attacks that Hannah would launch at him. Her spells took a few seconds to cast, due to the chanting and/or singing requirements, so if she tried to cast a spell, it would give Paula a good shot to either counter the spell or knock her out of casting the spell by attacking her. That fact would significantly limit Hannah's options, despite the fact that Ness was out of action for this fight. It was then that Hannah had noticed the other golden light washing over Ness. She instantly felt that this light was much different from the light that was surrounding her. It was pure, holy, and, to her, terrifying beyond belief. It was also infinitely more powerful than the perverted singing magic that had been used on Ness. Ironically, though, the very thing that had given the magic its power over Ness, his hatred of singing, also is what allowed him to survive the song. He simply refused to let himself be killed by a song, especially one that he hated. She used her boosted power to cast the spell again and psychically sang the song and placed it in his mind. Even though the heavenly light would prevent the song from killing Ness, or even hurting him further, she hoped that his hatred of the song would distract him from being able to concentrate on using his psychic power in the fight. Now, though, she had more pressing concerns to deal with. Paula was still standing, shielding Ness from her attacks, and she had to deal with Paula before Ness managed to come to himself and begin to fight again. One thing she knew was that while she was no match for them if they fought together, she was more than capable of defeating them in a one-on-one battle. It truly was a case of united they stand, divided they fall. And she wanted to make sure that they fell.

Hannah began the fight again by charging towards Paula. Paula may have been a powerful psychic, but she was not exactly known for her physical ability in a fight. As Hannah drew near Paula she drew her hand back and curled her fingers into a fist. She drew her arm back and locked it, preparing to unleash her fury. Before doing so, she used a non-verbal magical spell to enhance her physical strength and defense. She then unleashed her fury on Paula in the form of a punch aimed at her head. Her fist rocketed towards Paula's head as if the spring that had been holding back her fist had snapped. Unfortunately, for Hannah, Paula saw the attack coming a mile away and quickly stepped out of the path of her fist. Her step flowed into a spinning back heel kick that caught Hannah in the back. The kick sent Hannah flying forward and soon, she had a mouth full of dirt as she slammed into the ground. She quickly bounced back up and stood in a fighter's pose. She cursed as she realized that Paula was not as pathetic in a fight as she had initially thought. Paula's eyes were also glowing. Hannah tried to scan Paula's mind, but the barriers that she had erected in her mind were too powerful for Hannah to penetrate by magic. Even her latent telepathy was insufficient to breach Paula's psychic defenses.

Hannah then decided to try a different tactic. She began to focus her attention on Ness. Seeing this, Paula rushed over to Ness's aid. Ness was still distracted by the song that Hannah had placed in his mind, but he was not suffering any mental damage due to the song. Still, it was effective enough, since Ness was still holding his head, trying to get the song out of his head. That left only Paula to deal with Hannah. The question for Hannah was how she would deal with Paula. Paula had the ability to enhance her physical capabilities via her psychic powers and she also had powerful psychic attacks and defenses of her own. She decided to match power on power.

Hannah decided that she would put Paula's psychic powers to the test again. She began by powering a PSI Thunder attack and targeting Paula. Paula did not bother to raise a psychic shield or counter, since her shield or counter would be penetrated by the Thunder attack. Instead, Paula decided to match power with power, thunder with thunder. She powered her own PSI Thunder attack to its Omega level and unleashed it just as Hannah launched her own attack. Hannah stretched out her hand and unleashed a massive stream of lightning at Paula. Paula responded with her own stream of lightning. The two attacks collided in midair and there, the two attacks remained, neither attack budging. As the two attacks met, sparks erupted from the center of the collision of power. The air crackled with electricity and Paula and Hannah's hair began to stand on end due to the static electricity in the surrounding air. It was not long before Paula's attack began to push back Hannah's. Hannah responded by pushing even more energy into her attack. That managed to stop Paula's progress for a moment, but she was not gaining any ground on Paula's attack. Her own lightning attack was still only five feet away from her, and Paula was showing no signs of strain. Hannah, on the other hand, was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. She knew that she would not last much longer. She had take down Paula now. If she failed here, it was over.

The golden light surrounding Hannah moved in closer to her as she pushed the last of her energy into her PSI Thunder attack. The power that she pushed into her attack was beyond anything that she could imagine with a PSI Thunder attack. Unfortunately, Paula was unfazed by Hannah's desperate surge of power. She added a little more energy to her PSI Thunder Omega and pushed against Hannah's attack. With each second, the ball of electricity moved in on Hannah. She began to back away from the attack. She made one last gasp as she pushed all of her energy into the attack, but it was not enough. The two attacks arrived at Hannah's position and they struck her. The lightning attack sent Hannah flying through the air, electricity arcing across her body as she flew. She landed a few yards away and skidded along the ground, coming to a stop a few feet from her landing spot, sparks still playing over her body before dissipating. There, Hannah remained for a few seconds before stirring. She did not have any power left in her to continue her fight. Her hair was disheveled and she was seemingly crying. She struggled to rise from the ground. She managed to stagger forward a few steps before falling to the ground again. She just could not go on. She had been beaten. Seeing that Hannah was defeated, Paula went over to Ness to try to help him with his problem in dealing with the song that was playing in his mind. She placed her hands on Ness's ears and used her telepathy to expel the song and cure him of the mental contamination. Still, Ness's mind was still weakened for the time being, but it was nothing that a good night's sleep would not fix, she hoped. After she had cured him of his contamination, Ness looked up at her, smiled, and hugged her. Paula responded with surprising strength. What neither of them noticed, though, was that the golden light that was surrounding Hannah had not dimmed at her defeat. If anything, it was getting stronger.

_What a useless vessel this was_, an inhuman voice echoed throughout the cave. _And yet, despite its lack of psychic strength, the girl who this body belonged to was able to prevent me from being able to use its power effectively._ Both Paula and Ness separated from their embrace and stood still in shock at the sight of the swirling mass of golden energy, which was now taking the form of a humanoid figure. Despite the bright light that seemed to be trying to inspire the feeling of purity and holiness, both Ness and Paula knew that it was anything but. The only pure thing about this entity was its evil. Both Ness and Paula stared at the mass of energy as it was taking the form of a golden humanoid made of energy hovering above Hannah. After it had formed, two white lights flared into existence on its face where eyes would have been.

"Ahhhhh," it sighed. "At last, I'm free from that wretched flesh trap," the creature said.

"Who are you?" Paula demanded. "What are you?" she added with a mix of anger and curiosity.

The figure turned to face the girl who dared to ask such a question of such a magnificent and powerful being such as itself. "I am your death," it responded. After it had given its response, it laughed.

"And what about Hannah?" Paula asked, looking at the girl lying on the ground. "Was she you?"

The figure looked down at Hannah. "That pathetic fleshling? No," the figure answered as Hannah was beginning to stir. "But she did provide me with a vessel. She was the one who found me trapped down here during one of her games. I will admit that I was surprised when I learned of her latent psychic power, so I broke a piece of myself off into her in order to see if she could contain me. She could, so I added more of myself to her, gradually taking over her body. But she was stronger than expected. I was unable to control her mind. However, gaining control of her body was enough for my purpose. I was able to use her as an anchor and pull myself free of the crystal prison. And now, my first victims will be you two," he said, pointing at Ness and Paula. Hannah had just awakened and upon opening her eyes, saw the golden figure of energy hovering over her. At the sight of the figure, her eyes went wide with fear, but also anger and hatred.

"You!" she cried out. It would be the last thing she said for a while, since the creature then looked down on her and blasted her with a golden light. Hannah immediately fell back to the ground, her eyes closed. The rhythmic rising and falling of her chest indicated, however, that she was still alive.

"I'll deal with you later," the energy being said to her. "I might still have a use for you."

Ness, knowing that the creature may try to posses Hannah again, raised a Shield Omega over her body. Ness had suspected, rightly so, that the creature was not a psychic being, but a being of a different power, possibly cosmic or magical. His Shield Omega, which was a counter shield designed to be raised over an entire group of allies, was designed to protect all of them against any of the magical, cosmic, or physical attacks of the entity. This had not gone unnoticed by the entity, though.

"Smart," it commented, sensing the shield over Ness, Paula, and Hannah. "You're trying to stop me from repossessing Hannah and protecting yourselves from possession. You're also protecting yourselves from my magical attacks as well."

_So this entity is magical_, Paula thought silently. The entity then glanced over to Ness. "You're the stronger of the two," he said, as if he was noting it for his plan of attack. "I can't have you interfere in this battle."

The creature's white eyes flashed and he launched a psychic assault on Ness's already weakened mind. "Ness!" Paula cried as she sensed the attack on Ness's mind. Ness resisted the attack as best he could, but it was not enough. The attack rendered Ness unconscious. Fortunately, though, Ness's mental strength had allowed him to not suffer any permanent damage to his mind from the attack. Still, if the creature had attacked Ness once more, he would be able to kill him. Paula responded by stretching out her hand to Ness and raising a PSI Shield Beta over him. She hoped that that would be enough to prevent him from suffering any more mental attacks. The entity noticed Paula's actions this but was unable to act before Paula raised the shield. By the time she had done so, it was too late for the creature to finish off Ness. Paula immediately stepped in front of her fallen friend and spread out her arms, shielding him from the entity.

"Get out of the way, little girl," the entity commanded condescendingly. "Far stronger warriors than you have faced me and died. You'll just be one of the countless billions to fall to me if you do not move." The creature then thought about something, raising what looked to be a finger to its mouth, before continuing, "Actually, on second thought, it really doesn't matter. I'll kill you anyway, so it doesn't matter if it's before or after I kill your love, or whatever that human boy is to you."

Paula merely narrowed her gaze on the entity, looking it straight in the eyes. She turned back to Ness for a second and said, "You mean as much to me as my own parents and family, maybe even more. You've always been there for me, saving me from countless dangers. Now it's my turn." She turned back to face the entity and roared in challenge, "Bring it on!"

The golden being of light laughed and replied, "Consider it brought!" It then began the battle by launching a blast of magical thunder. At least, Paula hoped that it was magical thunder. If it was psychic, it would penetrate whatever shield she had erected. The thunder, however, was indeed magical, and it impacted her shield, causing it to flare into existence, and immediately rebounded off the shield and streaked back towards the entity. Just before the volley struck the entity, a shield flared as the lightning struck the shield. The entity laughed as the lightning splashed harmlessly across its shield. "I have defenses of my own," the being of golden light boasted. "There is little that you can do to penetrate them."

The boast of the creature would soon be put to the test as Paula decided to test the entity by launching a volley of PSI Thunder against the creature. She stretched out her right hand and unleashed a volley of five bolts of lightning from her fingertips. The lightning erupted from her fingers and quickly flew in the space between Paula and the entity. The entity merely laughed as Paula's lightning volley closed in on him. The entity's shields flared as the lightning struck them, but shockingly, for the entity, the lightning phased through its magical shield and struck the entity directly. Apparently the entity was vulnerable to PSI Thunder, since upon taking the hit, it cried out in pain and surprise. White sparks of energy erupted from points of the golden being's form as the lightning struck it. The creature recoiled and floated backwards a few feet. _How is this possible_? the entity wondered. _How did this girl learn to master PSI_? The creature knew that PSI was the most powerful form of psychic energy, powered from one's own soul. Only the most powerful of psychics could use PSI safely and effectively. He had thought that it had been restricted to the aliens that called themselves the PSI Lords. What was even worse was the fact that while it had been inhabiting and controlling Hannah's body, it had faced similar attacks, but it had not recognized that the girl's attacks were PSI. This was strange because it knew that Paula was psychic, but not that she could use PSI. Why was that? Why had it not sensed that Ness and Paula's attacks had been PSI? What had made him think that such attacks were some new form of magic? The creature looked at the unconscious form of Hannah lying on the ground. She had hidden some things from it and confused some of what it had sensed from the two human psychics. Her resistance to it had been stronger than it thought. No matter, Hannah was not the primary threat now, the psychic girl was. It would have to deal with the psychic girl first. Then it could take its time dealing with the fallen psychic boy and Hannah.

The entity first began its next attack by forming a ball of glowing golden energy in front if it. This was its most powerful attack of all. If this attack did not injure or kill the girl, the entity was in a lot of trouble. It took the entity a few seconds to form the ball of magic. The entity would have grinned if it had a face. While normally Paula would have been weaving, juking, and jiving to avoid the attack, she still had to protect Ness from the attack. Since she had to keep the psychic shield up to avoid the entity from attacking his mind again and killing him, she had to absorb all of the entity's attacks. Still, she did have the normal shield up, and the entity's attack was not a psychic attack, so there was no need to raise a psychic shield or counter over herself to protect her against the golden ball of light. The entity launched its ball of light straight at Paula. While Paula believed that her shield would likely protect her against the attack, she took the precaution of increasing her defense with Defense Up, just in case it turned out that she was wrong.

The entity then unleashed the ball of magic upon Paula. Remaining by Ness in order to ensure that the attack did not manage to strike him, just in case she was wrong about his shield's ability to reflect the attack, she steeled herself against the attack. The ball of golden light struck the shield over Paula, causing it to flare into existence for an instant before the ball phased through the shield and struck Paula directly. The golden ball exploded upon making contact with Paula. The light from the attack then congealed into several balls of magic, which were attracted back to Paula like magnets. The balls impacted the girl and exploded, engulfing her in the golden light. The pain that Paula felt upon the ball striking her was unlike anything she had ever felt before. It felt as if it were trying to strike directly at her soul. Paula writhed as the ball of magic made its initial strike, but she was able to keep herself from screaming in agony, despite the pain she was suffering through. She also managed to steel herself and keep the attack from inflicting any spiritual damage to herself. She then used her psychic abilities to expel the magical energy from her body. The subsequent balls of magic struck Paula and inflicted more pain on her body, but they did nothing more than that, and pain Paula could handle. She almost fell to one knee, but was able to keep her footing. She then raised her eyes and faced the entity once more.

The entity was not pleased at all at the current turn of events. It grimaced as it witnessed Paula surviving and later shrugging off his attack. It decided that Paula had to be dealt with by alternative means. The fact that it was no longer inhabiting or connected to Hannah meant that it could no longer use her psychic abilities against the girl standing before it. Not only that, but without a physical body, it could not fight her physically, the one area where Paula seemed to be not quite perfect to the entity. Even though its powers could penetrate any shields that Paula or the boy erected over themselves, the fact was that Paula's psychic powers were extremely potent against a magical being like itself, and its power was not nearly as effective against psychics as it would be against other enemies.

Still, despite the relative ineffectiveness of its last golden light ball, the entity felt that the ball of light was the only attack it had that had an effect on Paula. This time, it decided to concentrate on the physical nature of the attack and have it attack Paula's body rather than her mind and soul since her mind and soul were too strong for the entity to compete against. The entity powered another ball of magic and glared at Paula. Paula returned the entity's glare and readied herself by powering a blast of PSI Freeze. Once the entity had powered its golden magical ball it unleashed it at Paula. The young psychic teen stood firm against the oncoming ball of blinding golden energy. She simply unleashed her snowflake of psychic energy upon the golden ball of magic. The icy attack impacted the oncoming golden magical energy ball and exploded. The explosion of icy psychic energy completely stopped and dissipated the golden magical ball of energy. Paula followed this up with a second blast of PSI Freeze. This time, though, she powered it to its Omega level. The snowflake of psychic energy formed in front of Paula and grew in size until it was the size of her torso and head. She then stretched her arms forward and propelled the psychic attack at the entity of golden energy. The freezing snowflake crossed the distance between Paula and the entity at blinding speed, much faster than the magical being had expected, and struck the entity, exploding into a shower of snowflakes on contact. The icy explosion encased the entity in a solid block of ice. The block of ice fell to the ground and shattered. Had the entity been a physical creature, it would have been killed by the shattering of the ice, but since it was an energy creature, it merely reformed, albeit slowly. The slowness of its reforming told the entity just how much damage Paula's psychic attacks were inflicting on it. Needless to say, things were not looking good for the entity. Paula was far more powerful than it had expected, so much so that she may have even been a match for a PSI Lord, which was saying something. Still, the entity was not out yet. Paula may have had the power necessary to kill it, but the entity still had a few tricks of its own.

The first thing the golden energy being did was to use its magic to focus on Paula's mind. It visualized the words to a spell that would attack the mind of its victim and kill it. Such a spell had managed to kill or render PSI Lords unconscious if they had been caught unawares. If Paula had been aware of this power of the entity, she would have noted that it was similar to PSI Flash. The entity finished the incantation and unleashed the spell on Paula's mind while simultaneously powering a massive bolt of magical lightning, electricity arcing all over its body and forming a ball out in front of it. Unfortunately for the entity, though, its magical spell was a dud. Paula's mental defenses were too great for it to affect her. She smiled sweetly at the entity after its spell did not even manage to dent her mental defense. She also saw the bolt of lightning being powered by the entity. Paula knew that the entity was on its last legs, but she did not know just how much energy it had left. She waited for the entity to launch its attack before making a response of her own. The entity obliged when it unleashed a massive bolt of lightning directly at the psychic girl. Paula knew that she could step aside and let Ness's Franklin Badge reflect the lightning back at the entity, but she did not want to risk having the lightning collapse the psychic shield over Ness at the moment, since the entity might be able to posses him in his weakened state. The stream of magical lightning streaked towards Paula and the girl merely stood there, readying herself for the attack. The lightning soon struck the shield that Ness had erected over Paula and Hannah and was bounced back towards the entity. At this time, Paula stretched out her hands and powered a PSI Thunder Omega. Targeting the golden entity, she unleashed a massive volley of lightning that dwarfed the stream of magical thunder that the golden energy being had unleashed on Paula. The entity's own lightning attack was the first to strike the being. The entity's shield flared as it absorbed some of the entity's reflected attack, but it began to crack and shattered, making a sound like glass breaking, and the rest of the bolt struck the magical being directly in its core. This was quickly followed by Paula's volley of PSI Thunder Omega. This was even worse for the entity due to its weakness against psychic attacks, particularly lightning. Paula's follow up to the entity's own magical lightning proved devastating. Her bolts of psychic electricity struck the entity and seemed to drill a hole straight through the energy being. Electricity arced across its form as the creature writhed and cried out in agony, fear, and rage. While it was writhing, cracks of white light were beginning to form on the golden energy creature that had assumed a humanoid shape for the battle. Paula could tell that the entity was dying. She could feel it telepathically. Before the creature died, though, it gave one last ominous warning. "I am not the last. We are always…" but before it could finish, the entity exploded in a flash of golden light. Sparks of golden light appeared for a moment before dissipating. Paula telepathically scanned the area where the golden entity of light had been seen just moments before. She sensed some residual traces of energy throughout the cavern, but those quickly dispersed. She then proceeded to scan both Ness and Hannah to make sure that the entity had not taken possession of them in order to hide from her and escape its death. Paula sensed nothing inside either Ness or Hannah, besides themselves. She had done it. The entity was destroyed.

Paula then turned around and checked on Ness. He was still unconscious from the mental attack that the entity had unleashed on him. However, he was still alive, and Paula prayed that he would remain that way. She then sensed the surrounding environment and found that she could sense the outside world once again. Not only that, but Paula began to look around and saw that they were inside a small cavern, and that the ladder that led up to Lier X. Agerate's house was only about ten yards away. What had happened down here was just like Moonside three years ago. Paula then went over to Hannah, who was just beginning to wake up.

Hannah's eyes opened. The first thing she did upon reviving was glance around the small cave. She noticed a blond girl a few years older than her standing near a black haired boy who was currently still unconscious. She recognized the boy as Ness. She had seen him a few times, but she only remembered his name because her father had worked with Ness's father on occasion. The next thing Hannah did was to take stock of herself. She promptly noticed that she was wearing a red sleeveless dress that covered her from her neck to her ankles, which prompted her to give off a cry of shock. It was one of her special dresses that she was only supposed to wear on special occasions. She worried that if her parents saw her in this dress lying on the dusty floor of a cave, they would faint, and when they came around they would yell at her endlessly and probably ground her forever for getting it dirty. That was not her main concern at the moment though, since the last thing she remembered was stumbling upon this cave while playing hide and seek shortly before the end of the school year party. At that time, she had merely been wearing a t-shirt with blue jean shorts and sneakers then. "What am I doing here in my red dress?" she asked herself audibly

"What do you mean?" Paula asked.

Paula's response to her question startled the girl. She looked up and saw Paula, who she did not recognize, and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name's Paula Polestar," Paula replied, offering Hannah her hand. Hannah took it and Paula pulled the younger girl to her feet.

Hannah looked down at Ness and asked, "What happened to Ness? I thought he was going to be helping his father set up for the party."

Paula was surprised at Hannah's statement. "Hannah, the end of the school year party was yesterday."

"What?" Hannah replied in shock. "Then what have I been doing all this time?"

"Leading us on a wild goose chase, it seems," Paula replied. Paula then paused for a moment. She had quickly realized that the entity had been luring them to a battle where it could free itself completely, and had been using Hannah to do so. However, in order to lure someone into a trap, if they wanted it to have the best chance of catching its prey, the bait had to be real. She then asked Hannah, "Hannah, while the entity was inside of you, did you find out where our friends Jeff Andonuts and Poo were, particularly Jeff?"

"Huh," Hannah asked, confused as to what Paula was talking about. "What entity? Is this entity you're talking about the thing that made me miss a day of my life and the end of school party? If it is I'll tear it to pieces!" she roared.

"The piece of the golden entity took over your body and used you to lure us into a battle where it would allow itself to be freed from a crystal prison, it seems, and then it discarded you when you were of no further use to it."

"My gosh, that was real?" Hannah asked, covering her mouth in shock. "I thought that was just a nightmare."

"Apparently not."

"I didn't do anything bad, did I," Hannah asked, praying that she had done no real evil while under the entity's control.

"No, you were stopped from committing any real evil when we beat the entity while it was in control of your body," Paula told her. "That's when it lured us down here to finish the fight. That was when I finished the entity." She looked down at Ness and then added, "Though it was Ness's shield that allowed me to defeat the entity the way I did, as well as keeping it from taking you over again, or any of us for that matter."

Hannah did not know whether to be relieved, or angry at the fact that she would not be getting her revenge against the entity that had used her body to do evil and to put her in her best dress and risk her getting reamed by her parents for something she did not do. Still, she remembered fighting the entity in her dreams and forcing it back, so that was probably good enough.

Hannah then turned her attention towards Ness, who was still unconscious. "How's Ness?" she asked.

"He's unconscious," Paula answered, "but he's still alive, and will likely remain that way. It'll just be a while before he wakes up. How do you know Ness?"

"My father and his worked together in the past," Hannah answered. That answer seemed to satisfy Paula for the moment.

Hannah then pulled something from the inside of her dress in her chest. It was an herb of some sort. Paula recognized it as a Secret Herb. "Whenever I leave home, my parents tell me to keep an herb like this with me. They call it a Secret Herb. They say it will heal me if I get myself injured. Maybe it'll work on Ness," she suggested.

"It's worth a try," Paula agreed. They did not want to have to carry an unconscious Ness up the ladder that led back to Lier X. Agerate's house. Hannah handed the herb to Paula. Paula then went over to the unconscious Ness and opened his mouth. She placed the herb in his mouth and closed it. She hoped that he juices from the herb would revive him enough for him to chew and swallow the rest of the herb. She soon noticed Ness's mouth move. After a few moments, it stopped and they waited. Ness almost immediately opened his eyes and he sat up. The first things he saw were Paula and Hannah standing over him. Hannah's face lit up. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "He's alive! I didn't do anything bad to him!"

"Let's not get too carried away, Hannah," Ness replied in jest. Hannah stopped her celebrating and glared at Ness.

"That wasn't me," she contended. "Besides, I threw that thing out of me, after you laid the smackdown on me, or rather my body, during the fight," she admitted.

"Come on, let's not start blaming anyone," Paula told both of them.

Ness smiled at Paula. "You're right Paula," he conceded. "Let's just get out of here and back up to Onett." The three of them then made their way back up the ladder and exited the house.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Upon emerging from Lier X. Agerate's house, Ness, Paula, and Hannah found that Onett had returned to normal, just as Paula had sensed after the magical entity had been destroyed. The eerie darkness that had covered the entire landscape was gone. It was late in the day, almost six o'clock, though there was still plenty of sunlight left since it was early June. After emerging from the house, Paula simply stood there and took in a deep breath as she opened her psychic senses once again, and felt the presence of everyone in Onett and the surrounding areas. After Hannah had emerged from the house, she turned to Ness and Paula and thanked them saying, "Thanks for saving me from that entity, and not hating me because it took over me." She then paused before adding, "I've gotta get back home now. If my parents see me like this, they'll freak."

Hannah then took off towards the east. Just as Ness and Paula were about to head back into town Hannah came rushing back to them. Ness had to suppress a laugh as Hannah was smiling as she returned. "Sorry, but in my hurry I forgot to give you something. Words aren't enough to express my thanks to you, so here's a gift." Hannah then pulled out a clear stone from her dress. She handed it to Ness and said, "This is a PSI Stone. I received it from a friend in a town called Podunk. It is said to restore psychic energy when used, and it can be used many times before it breaks. It should help you on your journey to find your friends." She then pulled out another PSI Stone and handed it to Paula. Before departing, she paused and looked downcast before speaking once more, "Just so you know, I have no idea where your friends are. The entity must have said that in order to lure you into its trap. I don't think that it even knew where they were. All it knew were their names."

Ness did not frown. He forced a slight smile and responded, "Well, thanks anyway for telling us. And thanks for the PSI Stone," he called after her as she began to take off for her home higher in the hills of Onett. She waved back in acknowledgment of his thanks. When she was out of sight, Ness looked at the PSI Stone and gripped it tightly. He was not normally known as an energy sensor, yet even he could feel the energy in the stone. He then put the stone in his shorts pocket and turned back to Paula.

"So, since everything's back to normal, can you sense Jeff and Poo?" Ness asked his friend.

Paula closed her eyes for a second before opening them again. When she opened them again, they were glowing a deep blue. After a couple of seconds, she spoke. "For an instant I thought I could sense Poo. But I can't sense Jeff at all. It's as if he's disappeared off of the face of the Earth."

Ness looked down at the floor and began to think. He had feared something like this. "Then it's possible that he was sent somewhere in time," Ness said. "After all, I was sent to the past by that beam. It's possible that Jeff was also sent back in time." He then paused before asking, "By any chance, could you sense any of our family members in your scan?"

Paula shook her head. _Darn_, Ness thought. They were in the same boat as Jeff, it seemed. There was no point in remaining in the hills of Onett. Ness then said to Paula, "Come on. We should go into the town. If we hurry we could make it to Twoson by nightfall."

Paula agreed and the two of them headed down the hills and towards the town. They rode along the trail that led to the main road into town. Along the side of the road, people were now outside doing various chores and duties around their houses such as mowing their lawns, watering their gardens, or simply playing with their children. Many also seemed to be staring off into the sky as if looking for something. It appeared as if the people were entirely aware of having vanished from the town. Several of the inhabitants of Onett waved at Ness and Paula as they drove by their houses. Ness and Paula politely waved back.

After s short ride, they had arrived at the outskirts of the town proper. As they were about to enter the town, a flash of light and an explosion erupted in front of them, sending them swerving in order to avoid the flash. Ness and Paula almost fell off of their bikes as they struggled to maintain control and slow themselves to a quick, yet safe, halt. Once they had managed to come to a stop, the two of them looked back at the site of the flash and noticed a burn mark in the pavement. Standing over the mark was their friend, Poo. Ness and Paula's eyes lit up with joy at the sight of their friend. "Poo!" they cried out at the sight of the older teen.

Poo turned around, recognizing the voices of Ness and Paula. "Ness! Paula!" he exclaimed as he caught sight of his friends. He rushed over to them at superhuman speed. When Poo had arrived, he told them, "I've been trying to get to Onett and Twoson for almost a whole day. When I went into Threed, I noticed that there was a barrier that blocked entry into Twoson. I noticed that it only recently dissipated."

Ness smiled, "Yeah, that's likely because some magical entity cast a spell that created that barrier. When Paula destroyed it, the source of the barrier was destroyed and it fell."

Poo then turned to Paula and asked, "So, anything on our family members or Jeff?" Ness looked glum. He suspected that Poo's family was missing as well, and had not reappeared with him. Poo's question confirmed his suspicions.

Paula shook her head. Poo looked downcast. "I see," he said quietly. He then turned to Ness and asked, "So, what do we do next?"

"First, we should get some sleep," Ness said. "I don't know about you, but Paula and I had a tough fight against that entity. I'm not sure if I'm at one hundred percent yet."

"Yeah, me too," Poo agreed. "I had a tough battle yesterday as well, and I've been helping my master and Star Master set up a new town in Scaraba. Some real sleep would do us great."

"We can go to Twoson and see if Apple Kid is home," Paula suggested. "If he's not there, we can go to Saturn Valley. He often still works there, and even if he's not there, the Mr. Saturns can make some pretty advanced devices as well. If anyone has any idea where Jeff might be, it would be them."

"Sounds good," Ness agreed. Poo had no objections either. The three of them then made their way into town and towards Twoson, with Ness and Paula riding their bikes and Poo keeping pace on foot right next to them. To this day, Poo did not like to use bicycles to get around. He always felt that it was better for his training to move on foot.

Ness first made a stop at his house. There, he entered his house and decided to do a little spring cleaning. He collected all of the old and useless items, such as the old cracked bats and other baseball bats that he had outgrown that he had been storing in his room and in the basement, and put them in a large duffel bag. He also went around and searched for any other coins and charms that he had no further use for and stuffed them in the bag as well. Once that was finished, he exited the house, carrying his large duffel bag, and rejoined Paula and Poo. As they stared to head into Onett, Paula asked Ness, "What's in the bag?"

"All of my old and useless junk," Ness replied. "I hope to sell it tomorrow for some money."

Paula gave a lighthearted laugh and made a note to herself to do the same thing tomorrow after her black belt test. Her black belt test, she mused. She had been so preoccupied with the recent events that she had forgotten all about it. Before the appearance of the PSI Aliens, she had been practicing day in and day out for the test. She had already developed two katas to perfection. She had also been sparring with Ness every day for the past month. She was determined to pass this test and prove that she had what it took to be a black belt. Still, she was quite nervous about the test, even though she had used her skills to fight off a magical entity as well as having earlier faced off against an army of Starmen other aliens. She calmed her mind, just as Poo had taught her when she first began taking the lessons, and continued to keep pace with Ness and Poo, who was currently ahead of the two bikers, despite simply running on foot.

The trio made their way through Onett and everything seemed different from before. It seemed a lot better and safer. There were no more Sharks to deal with. Patrol officers were patrolling the streets. Ness spotted Captain Strong, who waved as Ness and the others rode by, near the police station. Ness waved back at Strong and continued through the town. Ness passed the Burger Shop and later the Bakery. While his inventory was not full, he did not have a lot of money on him at the moment and thus, he wanted to save his money for some other items that he might need to buy later.

The trio soon found the road that led out of Onett and down to the forest that separated Onett from Twoson and headed towards the forest. Not surprisingly, there were no enemies of any kind present during their ride. They decided to just enjoy the ride for the next hour or so as they made their way to Twoson.

Back in Onett, Giygas had sensed that the mysterious power had suddenly disappeared. He had witnessed Ness and Paula enter the strange house not too far away from Ness's house earlier and he decided that it was now safe to go investigate. He was about to go down to investigate the house when Ness, Paula, and the unknown girl had emerged. The strange aura that he had sensed around the girl from before had vanished completely. It seemed as if she had been under the control of another entity, and now she was normal once more. Upon further inspection, though, Giygas sensed that the girl was a latent psychic. She was not as strong as Ninten or Ana yet, so she was no threat to him. He still decided to investigate the scene further, so when the three of them left the area, with the mysterious girl going her own way, Giygas landed.

When the coast was clear, he telepathically called a Starman Deluxe to come to him. After a second, a Starman Deluxe appeared in front of them out of thin air. "Starman Deluxe Gamma," he addressed his minion, "keep an eye on the psychics and report back if something strange occurs. I must stress, though, do not engage them under any circumstances. If anything strange seemingly not having anything to do with the kids occurs, do not begin a fight. We lost a lot of good soldiers capturing Paula. I cannot afford to lose any more."

"Understood Master," Starman Deluxe Gamma replied.

"Contact me telepathically when you give your report. Report in at least once per day to inform me of what they are doing. I'll be investigating the occurrences that happened here. Once that is done, I'll be heading back to Mount Itoi."

"Understood," the Starman said again. The Starman Deluxe then proceeded to cloak himself and followed after the human children.

Giygas, however, had since ducked inside the house. He soon noticed the trap door that led to the underground cavern in the center of the room. He opened the door and proceeded to make his way down into the cavern. The cavern was actually small, though he could sense some sort of magical residue to the area. It was similar to the psychic residue that came forth when reality, or at least one's perceptions, was warped psychically. He would not have been surprised if another Moonside had been created here. He made his way to the dead end of the cavern and felt the sharp pieces of shattered glass or crystal on his feet. He looked down and saw the shiny shards of crystal, looking like sand. He searched the area for anything valuable that might assist him in his quest to destroy all PSI on Earth. He found nothing of value here, though. If there had been anything here, it was long gone, either taken by Ness and the others, or destroyed during the battle. With nothing further to do here, Giygas teleported to Mount Itoi, leaving the tracking of Ness and Paula to Starman Deluxe Gamma.

The three psychics emerged from the forest and entered the north part of Twoson. Just as with Onett, Twoson was now free of the unnatural darkness that had pervaded it during the time the entity had cast its spell separating Onett and Twoson from the rest of the outside world. It was still light out, though the sun was beginning to set. Ness and Paula were beginning to slow their pace. Poo noticed that he was getting pretty far ahead of them and he slowed down as well. Before he could say anything, Ness broke in and spoke. "Hey guys, if it's alright with you, can we rest for the night? Paula and I have been through two tough battles with little to no rest in between. I'd rather not have to face any potential enemies in my current condition."

Paula nodded in agreement with Ness. Poo shrugged and said, "Okay," though it was clear that he was in much better physical condition than the others at the moment, and he could have made the trip without a problem. It was then that he asked, "So where should we stay? I don't exactly have a ton of money on me at the moment."

"At my house," replied Paula. "It has enough space for the three of us no problem."

"Sounds great," proclaimed Ness as he began to pedal towards Paula's house. Paula followed suit with Poo bringing up the rear. As the trio went through the town, they passed several stores and houses that were finally lit up once more. The town was showing signs of life. Ness did not doubt that this would increase tomorrow morning. As it was now, though, Ness just wanted to find a place to rest for the night. The three of them passed a hotel and continued on their way. Even if they did have a decent amount of cash on hand, though, they would still prefer to stay at Paula's or anyone else's house, for that matter. It was preferable to paying their limited amount of cash to stay at some hotel room that was only designed for one or two people.

The three teens made their way though town, passing more business vendors and buildings as they navigated the streets and headed towards Paula's house. They quickly noticed that there were a lot of people who were still wandering the streets, as if they were in disbelief that they were back in Twoson. Still, Ness and his friends ignored the others. Paula extended her telepathic senses and scanned her surroundings. She immediately sensed the presence of a fourth psychic that was hanging back a ways away. She turned to see if she could see anything, but she could see nothing. Still, that did not mean that there was no one there. She rode up next to Ness and got his attention with a, "Hey." Ness looked over at Paula and she motioned behind her slightly. Ness turned and smiled, only partially feigning his interest in her, but he shifted his eyes, with effort, away from her and to their rear. Again, he could see nothing. He looked back at Paula and she nodded. He then slowed down a bit, and she followed suit. Poo also slowed down and glanced over to them.

"What is it?" he asked.

_We're being followed_, Paula responded telepathically.

"Any idea who it is?" Ness whispered in question.

_No_," Paula replied.

"A Starman," Poo chimed in. "It's a Starman, likely a Starman Deluxe judging from the power of the aura it is emitting."

Ness grimaced. It made sense. There was no way that Giygas would let them off the hook. Paula had already fought an army and inflicted catastrophic losses to the Starmen and their allies before her capture, including killing a young PSI Alien. While Ness had not known of Poo's ordeal, he too had inflicted heinous losses to the Starmen as well. As for Ness, he was already revealed to Giygas as having been the one who helped George rescue Maria from the PSI Aliens and he had destroyed a couple R7037s during the rescue. These were things that Giygas would not forget. The fact that only a Starman Deluxe had been sent to keep track of them meant that either Giygas did not have enough forces to send a force to deal with Ness and the others, that he did not view Ness as a significant threat to him, or that he was merely gathering more data on the three of them before committing himself to a course of action regarding the teens. The three then continued on their way, making sure to ensure that the Starman that was trailing them did not glean too much information about their plans from their actions.

It did not take the trio long to arrive at Paula's house. Ness and Paula rode around back and placed their bicycles in the garage while Poo waited around front for them. After putting their bikes away, the two came back around and Paula went up to the door, unlocked it, and proceeded to enter her house, followed by Ness and then Poo.

Outside the house, Starman Deluxe Gamma stood in the shadows. Night was already beginning to fall, so it would not be difficult for him to remain hidden. He stood at a distance and watched the house carefully. He tried to scan the interior of the house, but he could only barely make out the presence of the three humans inside. He had been shocked when Prince Poo had teleported in front of Ness and Paula during their trip into Onett. When it came time to make his report, he would mention to Giygas that the Prince of Dalaam was, indeed, still alive and had reunited with his two psychic friends. He would have mentioned it sooner, but he wanted to track them to see where they were going first. He knew that to report in so close to the teens was risky at best. There was a good possibility that the human girl, Paula, would be able to sense his psychic communiqué with Master Giygas. As it was, he merely followed the trio at a distance. When it came time to scan them, or if he got an opportunity to do so, he would make sure to find out where the survivors of Dalaam were currently located. Poo was a powerful psychic and since he was from Dalaam, there was a chance that there were other psychics originating from Dalaam as well. They had to be eliminated at all costs. Still, that could wait. For now, he merely observed the three teens, being careful not to expose himself. He would report in to Giygas after the teens went to sleep. That would allow him to report to Giygas without the fear of being detected by the humans.

Inside the house, Ness and the others went into the kitchen to prepare a meal. Paula got out some bread and some of her bacon slices from a small bag and placed them on the table. She told them, "I have some ham and other lunch meat in the fridge. I know it's not much, but I hope it'll be enough."

"It will be," Ness assured her.

Poo also smiled kindly at her. He then went over to the refrigerator and checked to see if there were any foods were more to his taste. He noticed that there was an instant ramen cup in the freezer. He asked her if he could have that for his dinner. Paula did not object, so he took it out and placed it in the microwave. Ness, meanwhile, was busy making a sandwich of his own. It consisted of ham, turkey, bacon, and mustard. He also noticed some soda in the refrigerator. Upon asking Paula whether or not he could have it, she nodded. After they were ready, they sat down together and enjoyed their meal. It was as if they were a family.

During the meal, each of the trio recounted each of their journeys up to this point from the time when they had disappeared from Ness's party a day ago. Ness was troubled by the fact that Dalaam had been destroyed by the PSI Aliens. He was happy, though, that Poo and his master and Star Master had managed to evacuate all of the civilians and they had only suffered moderate military casualties, and very light civilian casualties during the battle. He also told them that after the evacuation from Dalaam, he and his masters had been setting up a temporary place of sanctuary in Scaraba and that was why Poo had not appeared in Onett or Twoson until earlier in the day. In fact, he had initially only gone to Onett to check on Ness before he was to go back to Scaraba.

Next, it was Paula's turn to recount her own story from the time of her disappearance until now. Ness had known that she had been captured by the PSI Aliens, but that she had put up a fight. He did not know that she had put up as good of a fight as she had, though. She told them how she had fought a battle against a PSI Alien named Saiyg and that she had gotten lucky enough to kill her. The mention of Saiyg's death brought an uncharacteristic grin to Poo's lips. He had remembered how she had treated life as if it was quite disposable commodity like a jewel or some trinket. The fact that she was now dead brought a great deal of satisfaction to him. Also, the casualties inflicted on the Starmen and their allies by Paula may have also explained why they had seemingly ceased their search for the people of Dalaam, for the moment. She also explained to Poo what happened with the armor and her fight against Ness. She then told him about their encounters with Hannah and her and Ness's battle against the evil magical entity. Poo listened to her in silence, taking in all that she was saying.

Ness had interrupted to ask a few questions from time to time, though, mostly about the numbers of Starmen and other aliens there were, as well as the types of aliens and enemies that had been seen. He had recognized the Juanas and Omega Borgs that Paula had mentioned. He also noticed that there sometimes seemed to be weaker enemies present as well, despite being of similar species. He noted that Mooks, an enemy he had encountered onboard the PSI Aliens's Flagship were noticeably weaker than even the Lesser Mooks, to say nothing of the Mook Seniors.

Finally, Ness recounted his tale of appearing in George's underwater lab in a lake on Mount Itoi. He described the flight to the PSI Aliens's Flagship and the technology that George was in possession of. He also described the mission of the PSI Aliens to prevent the spread of PSI to other species, and the extermination of any species that develops psychic abilities naturally. He went into vivid detail about the search for the Phase Distorter and about the rescue of Maria. When Ness mentioned the R7037s, Poo noticed that Ness was talking about the same robots that had participated in the invasion of Dalaam. He also let Ness know that there was at least one more advanced version known as an R7038 as well. After describing the rescue of Maria, he then talked about the lesson she had given him that taught him how to better control his psychic power.

The meal did not last long, but they had continued talking and discussing their next course of action for the better part of an hour. Still, after that hour, there was more to discuss, but they all figured that it could wait until tomorrow. After they were finished with the meal and their stories, they cleaned the table and washed the dishes.

After dinner, Paula took Ness and Poo upstairs to show them where they could sleep. Since her parents were away, she allocated her parents' bedroom to Ness and Poo, while she would sleep in her own room. The bed in her parents' bedroom was a king sized bed, so it would easily be able to fit Ness and Poo without a problem. Still, Poo wanted Ness to get the whole bed while he would sleep on the sofa downstairs. Besides, he wanted the space for some training and meditation before going to bed. Ness had offered him the bed in return, but Poo insisted that Ness keep the bed. Once he was downstairs, Poo began to meditate. He knew that he would have a role to play in Paula's black belt test tomorrow and despite being Paula's friend, he wanted to make sure that she was tested to her fullest potential. It would be a disservice to her to simply allow her to pass her test with ease because they were friends. To that end, he resolved to hold nothing back when he faced her in the sparring portion of the test. If anything, he would go even harder on her _because_ she was his friend.

Meanwhile, inside Paula's room, Paula was performing a kata that she would use in her black belt test the next day. She moved her feet and arms with the fluidity and grace of a ballerina with her simulated blocks, and the force of a professional boxer with her punches and strikes. She had been careful to ensure that no one had been present when she was practicing her kata. She would need to perform four of them for her black belt test for her karate class tomorrow, two that the instructors had told her to memorize, and two that she made up on her own. She felt fine with each her katas. Her primary concern for the test was the self-defense portion of the test. She had developed quickly as a fighter, but she had heard that one of the black belts that she would have to spar against for her test would be either Ness or Poo, each having acquired his black belt more than a year ago. For Poo, he had achieved his black belt in karate at the age of twelve. She quickly lashed out with her fists, her open palms, and feet at the air molecules of her room. Her test had been scheduled to begin at eleven A.M. tomorrow, assuming the recent events had not pushed back her test. A part of Paula was nervous about the test, wondering if she was ready for it, but another part was very excited about taking the test. That part of Paula felt as if nothing would be able to stop her from passing the test at all. For three more hours, she practiced her katas, as well as fighting ghostly opponents from her imagination. Her training went on until about ten o'clock. After she trained, she washed up for bed, said her prayers and promptly fell to sleep.

Inside her parents' bedroom, Ness stayed up thinking about all that had happened in the past two days. A lot of things were going though his head at the moment. The most pressing concern in the short term was how to keep whatever Starman that Giygas had sent to track them at bay. He knew that they would have to confront that Starman sooner or later. Next on his list of concerns was Paula's black belt test tomorrow morning. He was confident that she would do well enough to pass, but that did not make his part as one of her sparring opponents, along with Poo, any easier. He wanted to make certain that he gave his all in the fight so that she would legitimately pass the test. Also, he was also worried about what Giygas was planning. There was no way that he would send a Starman Deluxe to track them without there being the possibility of him having to engage them. However, the question that Ness had was why Giygas had not simply killed them when he had the chance in the first place. He could theoretically understand the wish to control Paula. She was a powerful telepath and elemental PSI user. Having her as an elite soldier in their army would be something of a coup for them. Even if only her body were under their control, she would still be useful as psychic artillery. Still, why did Giygas not kill her, and him, for that matter, once the armor was destroyed? They were both winded from fighting each other, and he had expended a noticeable amount of psychic energy fighting the Sharks and other enemies just to get to Paula. Even if he wanted to confirm whether or not Poo had survived Dalaam's destruction, why not take out two dangerous enemies in the process? That would have drawn Poo to him like a magnet, and Happy Happy Village had not been enshrouded by the unnatural darkness that Twoson and Onett had been. As for Jeff not being present, not to belittle Jeff's abilities as a scientist or even a team member, but to Giygas, Jeff was merely human. He would be the easiest of the Four for Giygas to deal with in a one-on-one battle. It just did not make any sense. There had to be another angle to what Giygas was doing. Heck, speaking of missed opportunities, he missed a fine opportunity to kill them when they had emerged from Lier X. Agerate's house. The fact that a Starman was now following them, and had been from Onett, meant that he had to have known that they were in Onett. They had been tired from their battle against the golden magical entity. Ness almost chuckled when thinking of that missed opportunity for Giygas. At around ten o'clock, he decided that it was time for him to go to sleep. He had a big day tomorrow and he needed to get some rest. He washed up and then, after saying his prayers, went to sleep.

Outside the house, the Starman Deluxe watched as the humans were going to sleep one by one. The older teen, Poo, was the last to go to sleep. Once he was asleep, though, the Starman Deluxe telepathically called Giygas to give his report.

_Master Giygas, this is Starman Deluxe Gamma reporting in. The three members of the Chosen Four that are confirmed to be alive at this moment are staying at the girl's place of residence. I have also confirmed that Prince Poo of Dalaam is still alive. As such, I feel that it is likely that his master and the human Star Master are also still alive. The human psychic children are currently asleep. Do I have permission to attack? It will catch them off guard and I could finish them quickly_.

Giygas's answer was swift. _No. Do not engage the psychics! I repeat, do not engage the psychics! They may be able to survive your initial assault and if they can they will retaliate with deadly force. Just observe them for the time being and report in on their power. Your predecessor made just such a mistake against Ness and Paula and paid for it with his life. Do not engage yet. If the situation changes, contact me._

_Understood sir_, the Starman replied. He then continued his watch on the psychic children. During his watch he could not shake the feeling that there was something that Giygas was not telling him. He paid it no heed. Giygas was his master and he was the servant. And he would serve Giygas however he needed to.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The next day, Ness awoke at the rising of the sun. He threw off the covers and rushed over to the window. He peered out the window to see if he could spot anything suspicious, like the Starman Deluxe that had been tailing them. He could find nothing suspicious, but he was still on his guard. He knew that the three of them were being tracked by one of Giygas's minions so they all had to take extra precautions. Ness then proceeded downstairs. He found that Poo was already awake and preparing his breakfast, a cup of instant ramen. Upon seeing Ness come down the stairs, he glanced over to him, acknowledging him. Poo was not much for small talk so he merely asked, "Did you sleep okay last night?"

"Yes," replied Ness. "I slept fine. What about you?"

"I was fine, as well," Poo answered.

"Did you sense anything strange last night when you went to bed?"

"No, you?"

"No, but I'm not the telepath or energy sensor."

Poo gave a smile. Despite what Ness said, they both knew that they were being watched. The fact that they had not been attacked during their sleep meant that they were likely part of Giygas's plan in one form or another. What part they played, they did not know, but they were on their guard. Whatever Giygas's plan was, it was not something that would benefit them, or the rest of humanity for that matter. Still, the thing that puzzled both Ness and Poo was how their survival would benefit Giygas. They were by far the strongest psychics of humanity. Even so, though, given what Ness knew about them, they had not exactly faced off against any powerful enemies. All of the races that the PSI Aliens had encountered, they steamrolled with contemptuous ease, those that they did not choose to serve them as subordinate soldiers.

Ness went over to the cabinet and prepared himself a bowl of cereal. He then sat down at the table next to Poo and began to eat. He ate in silence since there was not much for the two of them to talk about right now. After a few minutes, Ness was finished. After he finished his meal he turned to Poo and said, "We'll have to practice for the test. We'll have to give a good showing for Paula.

"Sssshhh," Poo shushed. "We can't talk about that right now."

"Why not?" Ness asked.

"Because Paula's upstairs and may be awake. If she is, she'll be able to hear every word of our conversation. She's not supposed to know who she's going to face in the self-defense portion of the test."

"True," Ness admitted. "But we should still practice. It would be a disservice to her if we weren't prepared."

Poo nodded and the two of them then spent a half hour going over their battle plan and practicing, themselves. At the end of the half hour, they quickly stopped and set up everything to make sure that they were not giving away the fact that they would be Paula's black belt sparring partners in her sparring test, for they sensed the psychic girl preparing to come downstairs. After a couple of minutes, they saw Paula walking down the stairs in a pink nightdress. Ness smiled almost sweetly at Paula as she came down the stairs, while Poo looked as natural as could be. Ness's expression aroused suspicion in Paula's mind, which showed on her face.

"Is everything okay?" Paula asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Ness replied quickly. This only seemed to fuel Paula's suspicion. She looked at him intently.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," Ness responded, determined not to say anything more.

Seeing that there was no point in continuing the conversation, Paula relented and said, "Okay." What she did not let them know is that she suspected that they were the black belts that she would have to face off against in the self-defense portion of her test. She had overheard Ness and even Poo talking with her sensei three days ago. She had already suspected that they would be the black belts to test her due to her own skill, and the fact that her dojo's focus was on fighting rather than forms.

Paula went over to the cabinet and got out a piece of toast. She also got a jar of jelly and waited for the toast to pop out of the toaster. She did so and after preparing her toast and getting glass of orange juice, she sat down with her friends and ate. Ness merely smiled as Paula ate her breakfast. Paula ate quickly and was finished after only a couple minutes. Once she was done, she washed the dishes of the others and proceeded to go back upstairs. She was the first to wash up and brush her teeth. After she had finished, Ness proceeded to wash up, followed by Poo. After they were finished, they got dressed. After that, the three proceeded to make their way outside. They mounted their bikes and made their way towards the dojo.

The trip to the dojo was free of any incident. Poo could sense the Starman Deluxe trailing them, but the Starman was staying out of sight and was not powering any attacks to speak of. They arrived at the dojo an hour and a half before the test was scheduled to begin. Paula had brought along her training clothes in a duffel bag along with her. The dojo was not large. It was a single floor and the building consisted entirely of the training area and locker rooms. Paula was not used to being in a dojo like this. She had mostly been taking her courses and tests at school. While this was not her first time in the dojo, she was still not very accustomed to doing so. She did not let it bother her, though. She felt quite confident in her ability to pass the test. Ness and Paula parked their bikes on a rack close to the entrance of the dojo. Once they were safely secured in the racks, the three walked through the front entrance. Inside, Paula went towards the women's locker room in order to change into her karategi. Meanwhile, Ness and Poo sought out the men's locker room so that they could change into their own uniforms. Once they had changed, Ness and Poo emerged from the locker room and waited on the mat.

The testing area consisted of a black mat, which took up most of the room. On the side of the mat, to the right of the entrance to the dojo was a long table with three chairs facing the center of the mat. This was where the three judges would sit and observe Paula as she participated in the various stages of her black belt test. Across from the table were two students. Judging from the belts around their waists, these were brown belt students. Ness figured that they had only recently been promoted to the rank and were likely part of Paula's self-defense test.

In the center, the two noticed Paula's sensei, an oriental man named Leo Chang. Leo was a fifth degree black belt in karate and constantly demanded the best from his students. He had been astonished when Paula advanced through the ranks of karate as quickly as she did. To him, it had been practically unheard of for someone to go from a white belt to a black belt in three years unless they had already had some form of previous training. He, like almost everyone else in Twoson, knew of Paula's psychic abilities and had at first wondered if her powers had aided her in her training. Such thoughts were banished, though, as he learned more about her and witnessed her work ethic, especially during the weekends and in the summer. Besides, mind reading could only go so far once the punches and kicks started flying and Paula had never demonstrated any mind control capabilities, to his knowledge. Even if she had them, though, he figured that she would not use her powers in such a way. She was a good person. Upon seeing Ness and Poo, he greeted them with a bow. Ness and Poo returned his bow.

"So, how's Paula feeling about the test?" he asked.

"She's confident that she'll pass the test," Ness replied.

"I see," Chang noted. "Don't go easy on her because you're her friends," he admonished Ness and Poo. "It would be a disservice to her."

"We know," they responded in unison.

"Besides, she'd likely find out and make you pay for it dearly," he added light heartedly. He had always liked the three of them.

The three of them went over the layout of the test. The first part of the test would consist of the katas. Paula would have to perform four katas for the judges, of which Leo Chang would be one. After the katas were finished, the self-defense portion of the test would begin. She would face two brown belts, one right after the other. She had to beat the brown belts in the sparring matches in order to pass to the final part of the self-defense test, her matches with two black belts, Ness and Poo. While she did not have to defeat Ness or Poo, she did have to demonstrate that she could hold her own against each of them.

During the remaining hour before the test, both Ness and Poo sparred against each other. The two were relatively evenly matched, despite Poo being four years older than Ness and having trained practically since he could walk. Still, Poo was more accustomed to training with little to no rules, while Ness was more accustomed to the rules, such as no hitting below the waist. Even so, though, Poo managed to land more blows, and thus score more points against Ness than Ness managed to do against Poo.

Not long before the start of the test, Paula came out of the training area and onto the mat. She was dressed in a karategi similar to Ness and Poo's. It consisted of a white shirt underneath a white uwagi, or jacket, with white pants. Paula wore a brown belt around her waist, signifying her rank as a brown belt. Before the test began, she did some last minute training, mainly in katas. Then, promptly at eleven o'clock the test began. The judges took their seats at the table and motioned for Paula to begin her test.

Outside, the Starman Deluxe that had been tasked with keeping an eye on the three psychics noticed that Paula, who was wearing a different style of clothing from the one she had been wearing when she had entered the building, had lowered her telepathic senses and shields. This was an opportune moment for him to attack them and take out the psychics. He telepathically contacted Giygas and made his case. _Master, the three psychics are in some building called a "dojo" and appear to be preparing for a test of some sort. Even better, the girl has let down all of her telepathic guards and has shut off all of her power. Permission to engage, Master_.

_Permission denied_," came Giygas's response.

_But Master, the children are vulnerable. We might not get a better chance to take them out_…

_I said no_! Giygas roared telepathically. _I have a different use for them. Don't worry Gamma, they will die when it is their time. But their time has not come yet. Understand_?

_Understood, Master_, the Starman replied. He then severed his link with Giygas. He proceeded to grumble at the fact that he was not allowed to deal with the psychic teens while their guard was down. He watched Paula move in what looked to be a choreographed dance to the Starman and wondered what Giygas was thinking. Of course he was not here, but that should not have mattered. Giygas had no particular attachment to his minions. He would not care too much if Starman Deluxe Gamma had died trying to kill the children. And chances were that he'd likely be able to take out at least one of the teens before dying. For the life of him, he could not understand why Giygas did not want the psychics dead. What possible use could he have for them? Paula Polestar had already showed that she could not be controlled by Giygas at all. Chances were that the others were equally resistant to being controlled via mind control and even being controlled by means of any special armor. It was not like the human psychics were unique. Giygas knew all of the elemental psychic attacks in the universe, as well as several psychic techniques that the humans had never even heard of. Why was Master Giygas toying with these humans? Even though they were weaker than he was, together, they could still become a threat later on. After all, they had already shown that their potential for growth was astronomical. What would happen if they underwent another psychic growth spurt? Still, the Starman Deluxe decided that it was best to simply observe them for the moment since he did not want to disobey his master. If the kill order were not given soon, though, he would be tempted to pull the trigger on them himself. And he had allies that were very willing to assist him.

Back inside the dojo, Ness and Poo watched as Paula performed her katas for the three judges. Paula moved with the grace of a ballerina as she glided across the mat, her arm movements and strikes showing tremendous fluidity. During each kata, the dance she had performed made it seem as if she were fighting several invisible ghostly opponents. Each kata was different, yet Ness could definitely see a style to Paula's movements as she moved across the mat. He could tell from the expression on her face that while she was quite confident in her forms, she was also quite serious and focused on performing them perfectly. After about an hour or so, Paula had finished her katas. The judges looked to be impressed with her katas and how she had performed them. They then gave her a few minutes to rest before the second and more grueling part of the exam would begin, the self-defense portion.

After Paula had rested for a few minutes, the first of her brown belt opponents stood up opposite the judges and approached. The two of them then proceeded to a small line at the center of the mat. The two students stood on opposite ends of the line. Once they were situated appropriately, Paula bowed to him, making certain that she maintained eye contact during her bow. He returned her bow and then assumed a fighter's stance. Paula also assumed a defensive stance. The goal of this test was simple, to defeat the opponent. The first one to score three points against the opponent would win the match. The rules were simple. There was to be no eye gouging or hitting below the belt. Doing so would mean an automatic failure for Paula. She did not know what the other brown belt would get for doing so, but she figured that the punishment would have been severe.

The brown belt began the fight by trying to throw a punch at Paula's face. Paula blocked the attack and retaliated with a punch of her own. The brown belt parried the attack, causing it to sail wide to the left of his face, but he failed to notice that Paula had pulled back her left hand in preparation for a strike. She perform an open palm strike to his chest. The brown belt was unable to block the attack in time and she scored a direct hit to his chest. The first point went to Paula. After she scored the first point the two went back to the center of the mat to line up again. Then, the battle for the second point began. This time, the brown belt decided to throw a kick at Paula's waist. This proved to be a big mistake, as Paula caught the kick and proceeded to pull him in. After doing so, she set up a punch to his stomach. She let go of his leg with one of her hands and with blinding speed, sent a punch to the brown belt's chest. The brown belt was unable to block the attack. Paula was now leading two-to-zero.

After they had lined up for the third point, Paula noticed that the brown belt was sweating profusely. This was not fatigue, though. He was getting nervous. He was worried that if he had not been able to score a direct hit on Paula for the entire match, that he might be busted back down to red belt. Paula however, seemed to ignore his concern and when the referee began the match again, he backed away to try to goad Paula into attacking him, hoping that he would be able to cause her to overextend herself and open herself up to an attack. Unfortunately, for him, Paula did not take the bait. Instead, she backed away a few steps, herself, motioning for him to attack her. This caused the brown belt to be even more nervous. He took a few tentative steps towards Paula, who was now smiling confidently, which only served to unnerve him all the more. Eventually he attacked, throwing a punch at Paula's chest. Paula parried the attack, knocking it to the side while responding with a punch of her own to his face. He managed to catch the attack and retaliate, but Paula ducked underneath his strike. She then went to perform a side kick to his chest, but the brown belt was able to raise his arm and parry the blow. He was not able to catch her kick, though. Paula then continued on the offensive, launching a flurry of punches on his arms. They were not meant to do any damage or score any points, but to weaken the brown belt so that one of her subsequent attacks would manage to get through. Eventually, one of her attacks managed to make it through. Paula performed a side kick that managed to catch the brown belt in the chest. The force of the kick caused him to stagger backwards, however, he managed to maintain his balance. The fight was now over with Paula being declared the victor. The judges looked at each other and seemed to approve of what they saw. The referee led Paula and the brown belt back to the center of the mat, where they bowed to each other before Paula went over to the judges, and the brown belt went back to his side of the mat. It was not long before the other brown belt was called over to spar with Paula. His nervousness was quite evident on his face, especially after seeing how Paula had taken apart his friend in their fight. The two of them were then lined up at the center of the mat and the fight began. This match did not last very long. The brown belt had obviously only recently attained that rank, for Paula demolished him three points to none. After the match was finished, Paula rested for a few minutes in order to prepare for her next match.

The next match would be against Ness, a first degree black belt. The goal of this match was not to defeat Ness, but to hold her own against him. This time, the rules were also different. Instead of being a match based on points, this match would be based on falls. Points would still be scored, but the fight would not stop with a solid hit and points would not matter if one opponent or the other fell to the ground. The first one to fall to the floor would lose the match. Also, the match would end if one of the fighters left the mat, or was forced off by their opponent. The match would last for five minutes or so. There was no set time for the match, so if the judges wished, the match could last for much longer, or they could end it prematurely if one side was obviously dominating the other, even if the dominated fighter had not yet fallen. For Paula, her goal was merely to stay on her feet for the whole match and to not get demolished by Ness. She knew that he was stronger than she was. She just hoped that her own agility and reaction time would allow her to hang in there against her. After the short break, the match with Ness was scheduled to begin.

Paula went to the centerline on the mat and Ness followed suit. When they were standing opposite each other, they bowed to each other, each one focusing his or her eyes on the other's as they bowed, being careful not to lower their eyes to the enemy. That would invite a preemptive strike that would end the match before it had begun, something that Leo Chang had warned both of them about. After the bow, both Ness and Paula assumed a fighter's stance. Since this was a fight to first fall, there was no reason for Paula to let Ness be the first to attack, besides the fact that she knew that in a direct confrontation, she would more likely than not lose. She decided that it would be best to lure in Ness into launching an attack on her. She hoped that he would overextend himself and allow her to get him into a hold and take him down quickly, or that she could lead him to the edge of the mat so she could win via ring out. Ness began his attack by throwing a quick palm strike towards Paula's head. She managed to knock aside the blow and retaliated with a strike of her own at Ness's abdomen. Ness caught the attack and struck at Paula's chest. His strike managed to land, but Paula took the opportunity to launch a punch at Ness's abdomen. Her punch also managed to land on Ness. Still, she did not want to sustain another hit since she had only managed to land a blow on Ness because he had managed to hit her. Since boys were generally stronger than girls, physically, an even exchange of blows would favor Ness in the match, and knowing Chang sensei, he would view such an exchange as a bad loss for Paula. She would have to carefully pick her attacks and be careful of Ness's own attacks on her as well. Ness soon threw another punch at her abdomen. Paula backed off, managing to knock his attack aside. She quickly glanced to her rear, though, wanting to make sure that she was not getting too close to the edge of the mat.

Paula retaliated by turning around to try to lure Ness into turning his own back towards the rear of the mat. Her strategy was quickly noticed by the judges. She then proceeded to unleash a flurry of blows on Ness. He raised his arms to protect his head and abdomen, since anything below the belt was still off limits. She continued to pound at Ness's defenses, but he was not budging, nor was he giving any ground. Paula still continued her flurry of punches and palm strikes, hoping that one of them would get through. Just then, Ness opened himself up to attack, allowing one of Paula's strikes to hit his abdomen while he performed a side kick which was aimed at Paula's chest. Immediately upon the lowering of his guard, though, Paula knew that he was planning to launch a stronger attack against her. She quickly danced to her right and managed to avoid the kick. Ness quickly circled around her and attacked, landing a blow on her side, sending her staggering towards the edge of the mat. Paula glanced behind her and found that she was getting precariously close to the edge of the mat. This might not be so great since a ring out was not necessarily a guaranteed victory, however, she had been fighting relatively evenly with Ness so far, so chances were that they'd recognize a ring out as a legitimate victory. Still, she wanted to go for the victory by knock down. That meant that Ness had to fall to the mat. Paula soon decided that she would have to attempt some throws if she were to take Ness down.

Ness made his approach towards her, being careful of Paula's foot movements. The two began to circle one another, always being on the move. Neither of the combatants noticed this, but the judges nodded in satisfaction. Paula was a moving target, which would make it harder for Ness to land a hit on her, and Ness's movement made him a more difficult target as well. Soon, Ness noticed that Paula was getting pretty close to the edge of the mat. He then rushed in and attempted to push Paula out of bounds. Paula would have none of that, though, and found that this was her best opportunity for ending the match. She quickly ducked to one side and grabbed hold of Ness's arm. She then proceeded to push Ness in the back, hoping to cause him to lose his balance. He staggered forward and Paula quickly performed a strike to Ness back, further causing him to lose his balance and fall forward. His hand touched the mat and the referee immediately called the match. Paula was the victor.

Paula walked over to Ness as he rose. The two gazed into each other's eyes and smiled. Ness's grin indicated that had the match continued; things might have ended differently. Paula knew that she had gotten lucky in her win by fall, but she was pleased that she had managed to end the fight without either of them taking too much of a beating. She still had another match to go and if she wasted all of her energy against Ness, she would be overwhelmed when she fought her next opponent. The two of them then bowed once more to each other and Ness proceeded to make his way over to one of the edges of the mat. There, he took a seat near Poo, who proceeded to stand. Seeing Poo coming over to the judges' table caused Paula to tremble. She said a prayer of thanks that the match against Ness had been short and that she had not expended too much energy. She knew that Poo would be at the very least a difficult opponent to beat, and at worst would be nigh impossible to even hold her own against. If there was one thing that she knew, it was that Poo would not hold back against her at all. Not only that, but he had been training since he had begun to walk. Even holding her own against him would be quite a feat. She only hoped that the judges knew of Poo's background and skill.

The two of them were ushered towards the center of the mat. Poo's gaze met Paula's and they both bowed. The referee then began the match and Poo wasted no time putting Paula's skills to the test. He unleashed a flurry of punches and open palm strikes against Paula. Paula did her best to evade, block, and parry his attacks, and was surprisingly able to keep most of them from landing. Even the blows that landed only managed to be glancing blows, rather than direct hits. Paula knew, though, that enough glancing blows would add up quickly given how quick and strong Poo's attacks were. Paula decided to take the fight back to him and pulled back her arm and curled her fingers into a fist. She then unleashed her fist with all of her might aimed directly at his chest. Poo saw the attack coming a mile away and caught Paula's fist. He then smiled confidently at her. There was no mirth in his smile. He would punish her for making such a foolish mistake. Paula then attempted to punch Poo with her free left hand. Poo caught that fist too and smiled once more. However, the punch was merely a feint. She immediately followed up her punch with a side kick that forced him to move backwards and let go of her hands in order to avoid it. She immediately pulled her hands away and backed off from Poo. Poo stopped his backward momentum and focused his attention on Paula once again.

Poo neared the younger girl slowly, looking for any signs that she was going to launch another desperate attack. He noticed that Paula was smart with regards to the attacks she chose. She had led in with punches all the time. From his experience, many inexperienced fighters tended to perform kicks because of their superior power, and the fact that they looked flashy, mostly thanks to Hollywood movies. However, hands were always quicker than feet. Paula knew this had wisely begun her counterattack with fists, rather than feet. It was not much in the grand scheme of things, but against an opponent like him, who had a lot more training and experience than she did, it was something to consider. Many would have also foolishly tried to take him down quickly, hoping to get a lucky shot in, knowing that the longer the match went, the smaller their chances were of defeating him.

Paula launched her next attack on Poo by trying to hit him in the face with a quick backhand strike. Poo avoided her attack and retaliated with a punch to her abdomen, which Paula managed to parry. She answered with a punch to his abdomen. Poo managed to catch her fist again. This time, though, Paula did not launch into another punch, but performed a roundhouse kick to Poo's head. Poo dodged the attack, which caused him to lose focus of Paula's left hand, which was now on a collision course with his abdomen. Poo was fast, but not fast enough to avoid her strike. She managed to land a clean blow on his abdomen. This caused Poo to release her hand and sent him staggering backwards a few steps. He grinned at Paula after he recovered from the punch. He was not going to let her hit him again. He began to throw a flurry of punches at Paula's chest and face. One thing he had to admit, though, was that Paula was not half bad. In fact, she was quite good. She managed to dodge or parry most of his blows, and the few that did manage to land were only glancing hits at best.

Paula retaliated with a punch of her own. It was too slow, though, and Poo stepped to his left and let the punch sail by him. He then caught her arm and held her in an arm bar, grinning. He would not show her any mercy in this match. He went to take her to the ground, and win the match, when she began to try to break out of the arm bar. Try as she might, though, the older boy was much too strong for her to break free. With each attempt to break free, Poo's grip merely tightened, and the pain got worse. It was getting to the point where she felt as if he would actually dislocate her shoulder. If she did not do something soon, she would likely tap out due to the pain. She then used the only trick she had left. She elbowed him in his abdomen, hoping that her hits would hurt and that the jolt of pain would cause him to loosen his grip on her before he took her to the mat. One jab was not enough so she kept on hitting him again, and again, and again. She hit him in the same place over and over until she felt his grip loosening. She then proceeded to wiggle in an attempt to break free of Poo's grip. Poo was still strong, though, and this was not easy. Eventually, though, Paula managed to break free and back a few feet away from Poo before he could launch a kick that would likely knock her to the mat. She moved her right arm, the one that had been caught in the arm bar to see if it hurt. It was a little sore, but that would pass. No permanent damage had been done. She noted that despite the pain she had felt, Poo had been very careful and applied only enough force for it to hurt, not for her to be injured. Now, it was her turn to try to take back the match so that she could at least be seen as holding her own against him.

She began the next phase of the battle by inching her way towards the older teen. Poo's own gaze narrowed in on Paula. He was not taking any chances with her. Paula decided that it would be best to try to attack with quick strikes, rather than any blows that would actually hurt Poo. She rushed in towards the older teen and performed a series of quick punches. Poo managed to bat them aside with ease, but she was also moving around, making herself a more difficult target to hit in return. As a result, none of Poo's counterpunches managed to land on Paula. In fact, she noticed that he had overextended himself on one of his punches and she took advantage of this by throwing a stronger punch at his abdomen. She knew as she was throwing the punch that he could have merely been leading her on, but it was her best chance to score a point on him and she might not get another opportunity to do so, so she went for it. It turned out that Poo was not trying to lure her in. He had, in fact, made a mistake and Paula made him pay for it with her punch. Her punch landed cleanly on his abdomen and caused him to recoil a couple of steps. Paula, feeling emboldened by her success, launched into another flurry of attacks.

Poo recovered quickly, though, and made himself a difficult target, dancing across the mat. He managed to either dodge or parry all of Paula's attacks. Paula was undeterred. She continued the assault and attempted to land another strike. Still, none of her punches, or the occasional kick, managed to land. Her last attack, a roundhouse kick that she hoped would land after throwing a flurry of punches that would throw him off guard was caught by Poo. After he caught it, he pulled her in towards him. Paula, however, had other ideas. She quickly spun around and tried to jerk her leg away from Poo. As if a miracle had happened, she managed to yank her leg free. She spun around and struggled to maintain her balance. She then noticed Poo going for the final blow, a punch that would knock her to the mat in her unbalanced position. She raised her arm to block the punch and used him as a lever to keep herself from falling. This drew Poo off balance as well, and Paula tried to drag him down and, failing that, land a punch. Poo managed to knock the punch away, though and had managed to regain his balance, as had Paula. Paula then backed away as Poo launched a quick punch towards her abdomen. Her increased distance gave her time to react to her faster opponent and she managed to parry the attack. It was then that a whistle sounded from the referee, ending the fight. The two combatants looked over at the judges' table and saw that they had been the ones to order the referee to end the fight. Paula and Poo returned to the center of the mat, where they bowed to each other before Paula went to the judges' table and Poo retuned to sit over with Ness.

Over at the judges' table, Paula waited for the final verdict of the judges. The judges each then stood up and approached her. Her sensei, Leo Chang, was the first to approach. She extended his hand to her, which she took. After the handshake, he pulled out a black sash and said, "Congratulations Paula Polestar, you've passed."

He then offered her the black sash, which she graciously accepted. "Thank you, Sensei," Paula replied as she accepted her black belt. Upon taking the sash, she bowed to her sensei. Chang bowed back and then the other two judges came over to shake her hand and bow. Paula could not stop smiling after receiving her black belt.

Once the ceremony was finished, Paula immediately went over to Ness and Poo, who came over to congratulate her on passing the test. She immediately focused her gaze on Ness and smiled sweetly at him for a moment before her expression turned more dour. She knew that Ness was quite skilled, and if she had as much trouble against Poo as she did, she should have had more trouble against Ness.

"You didn't throw your match against me, did you?" she asked in mock accusation as she broke out in a smile.

"Who, me?" Ness replied innocently, smiling all the while.

Paula then laughed with Ness. "I did get a little overconfident in that fight, didn't I?" Ness asked.

"Yes you did," Paula answered. "And I happened to get lucky with my take down of you."

Ness laughed. Paula then looked over at Poo, who was letting her and Ness share a moment together. He smiled as he saw the two of them playfully bicker about their fight. He then turned to look out the window to see if anyone was looking in on the dojo. He extended his psychic senses to determine if there was a foreign power outside in the near vicinity. He could sense one other psychic power, besides Ness and Paula. It was an all too familiar sensation. He suspected that it belonged to a Starman. Judging from the power signature, it was likely either a Starman Deluxe, or a Final Starman. Poo then looked away from the window and glanced over to Ness and Paula, who were smiling and laughing. He made his way over to them and whispered, "We're still being tracked by that Starman Deluxe. I don't think he'll leave us alone."

Ness and Paula's expressions soured a bit. "We could lure him out and face him," Ness suggested.

"Maybe," Paula mused, "but I think we should wait before picking a fight with him. For one thing, we're not well equipped for facing down something like a Starman Deluxe at the moment."

"But we were able to defeat the Starman Deluxe that attacked Hannah," Ness contended.

"Yes, but he had already fought against Hannah," Paula stated. "There's a chance that that Starman Deluxe was already hurt or tired from fighting Hannah. That will not likely be the case this time around. Without non-psychic arms, Starman Deluxes are notoriously difficult to defeat. Besides, if he attacks, it'll likely be against Giygas's orders. I want to see why Giygas would order him to spy on us rather than kill us when he clearly had a chance."

"Good point," Ness conceded.

"All the same, I think we should get something suited for dealing with Starmen," Poo suggested. "We're not exactly well equipped for a protracted battle against an army of Starmen. They'll be able to wear us down with numbers. Who's to say that this Starman Deluxe won't lose patience with Giygas's orders, or even have those orders changed, and engage us with some friends for backup. We'll need to get some armaments for dealing with them."

"Non-psychic armaments are Jeff's department," Ness said. "All we're qualified to use are regular bombs and Super Bombs."

"Then we need to get some," Paula replied.

With that, the three headed off to the locker rooms to shower and get dressed in their ordinary street clothes. Inside the girls' locker room, Paula stared at her black sash. She had finally done it. She had earned her black belt. She quickly stuffed her belt in her shorts pocket. She did not want to lose her belt. It was proof of her skill in the martial arts. Once she was finished getting dressed, she exited the locker room and found Ness and Poo waiting for her. She walked over to them and smiled at Ness, who returned her smile. The three of them then proceeded to leave the dojo.

Outside the dojo, Ness and Paula went over to their bikes and took them off the rack. They mounted the bikes and proceeded to make their way though town. Their destination was Burglin Park. It did not take long for them to reach Burglin Park. During the ride, they saw several people along the streets, such as New Age Retro Hippies, Cranky Ladies, and Annoying Revelers, but none of them were hostile towards Ness and the others.

Starman Deluxe Gamma followed the children as they rode throughout the town of Twoson. He was multitasking, as he was not only following the teens, through the town, he was also making a report to his master.

_Master, I am continuing to follow these human teenagers. I have seen the girl pass a test for something called a black belt. It appears to be a sash that one wears around the waist. I don't know anything more than that._

_I do_, Giygas told him telepathically. _It denotes a rank in one's skill in a group or style of fighting collectively known as the martial arts_._ It is meaningless to us._

_Are you sure_? the Starman asked Giygas. _If this girl has advanced in rank in her physical capabilities, she could become a more dangerous opponent. Why do we not strike at these kids_? he pleaded with his master.

_Because I have a use for them_! Giygas snapped back.

The Starman Deluxe wondered what possible use the three psychic teens could be to him. The only potential use would be for tracking down Jeff Andonuts. However, Jeff was not a psychic, so alone, he was not much of a threat to Giygas and his forces. There was no reason for Giygas to not kill Ness and the others right now. They were a lot stronger than Ninten and Ana had ever shown themselves to be when they were children. Ness had even helped George rescue Maria and destroyed two R7037s in the process. Paula had killed Saiyg. Poo had slaughtered countless Starmen and had taken down numerous R7037s and even an R7038. If these children were allowed to roam the world for much longer, they would get stronger. Eventually, they may even have become a threat to Master Giygas. Still, Giygas had given him an order. He would not disobey it, yet. But still, he was tempted to deal with these psychics, consequences be damned.

Ness, Paula, and Poo arrived at Burglin Park, which was not too far away from the Polestar Preschool, Paula's House, and proceeded to enter. Inside the park, there were numerous vendors and a shed at the end of the park. Sitting on top of the shed was the familiar face of Everdred, the thief. He was a big, middle-aged man with a small black hat, sunglasses, and an orange Hawaiian shirt. When Everdred saw Ness and his friends approaching, he jumped down off of his bungalow and came over to meet them. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my old friend, Ness," he exclaimed. "What brings you into Burglin Park?"

Ness was hesitant to answer but he eventually responded, "I'm just shopping around. What's been going on with you? The last time I saw you, you were in Fourside."

"Yeah," Everdred began, rubbing the back of his head. Things have changed in the last three years. For one thing, I've gone legit now." This surprised Ness, which the seemingly former hustler and thief noticed. "No joke," he said, raising his right hand as he spoke. "I learned my lesson the hard way. After the pounding I took in Fourside three years ago I found religion and I've turned over a new leaf, as evidenced by my little shop here." He motioned towards his little bungalow. The three went over to check out his bungalow. He seemed to have a large number of tools. There were all sorts of shovels, rakes, pitchforks, and hoes. Ness and Paula then approached the counter and looked around the shed. Everdred then reached underneath the desk and pulled out a device that looked to be a Super Bomb. He stared Ness straight in the eye and said, "I am not oblivious as to what happened here. Three years ago, flying saucers were seen flyin' over the area and strange things happened, including me nearly gettin' killed in Fourside. Well, yesterday, I saw those same flyin' saucers flying over Twoson. And then there was that strange occurrence where I just vanished into darkness. I thought, for a moment, that I was in Hell. Then I reappeared back here a while later. Strange things are happenin' here Ness. That's why I'm willing to give you some help here."

He then handed Ness the Super Bomb. "I've got another of those, and two regular strength bombs here in the shed. I had intended to use them to deal with any more alien invasions, but knowing your reputation for dealing with these threats, I'll be honest and say that I think you'd put these to better use than me. That, and I don't wanna get myself killed doin' something stupid."

Everdred then opened up the desk and pulled out some bombs and the other remaining Super Bomb for Ness. He handed the ordnance over to the young teen and said, "Use 'em wisely. This'll be the last Super Bomb you'll be able get before going ta Fourside."

Ness nodded and thanked Everdred. He then divided the bombs and Super Bombs among himself and Paula. He gave Paula one Super Bomb and one regular bomb. He kept the other Super Bomb and bomb so that they would have equivalent weaponry. The three then went over to the various vendors until they found a small "For Sale" sign at one of the stands, which was manned by a New Age Retro Hippy. Ness went over to the stand and bought the sign.

Starman Deluxe Gamma watched as Ness talked to the overweight man in the Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses. He searched his memory as he thought he had recognized the man. He then remembered from the dossiers that he read about known acquaintances and allies of the Chosen Four, AKA, Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo. According to the man's appearance, he figured that the man was none other than Everdred. He remembered that Everdred had been a hustler and a thief. The last he had been seen, he had been severely wounded by Monotoli's men when he had been tricked out of the Evil Mani Mani Statue. There had been rumors that Mr. Everdred had died of his injuries. Evidently, this was not the case. Still, Everdred was not the concern here, the three teens were. He noticed Everdred give Ness some round metallic balls and he saw Ness hand two of them to the psychic girl. _Could these be weapons_? the Starman Deluxe wondered. He had a feeling that they were. If Ness could get some powerful weapons, the danger that he would pose to beings like Starmen and maybe even to Giygas would increase dramatically, since they would no longer be able to wear him down with wave after wave of enemies. Still, he remembered the order that Giygas had given him about not attacking the teens. Upon seeing this recent development, though, he felt he had no choice. _Screw it_, he thought. _They're getting powerful weapons right now. I have to stop them before they get something even stronger_. With that, he vanished from where he had been standing.

Ness and the others had finished their business in Burglin Park and were on their way out. They turned back to wave at Everdred, who waved back at them, a big grin plastered on his face. As they were nearing the exit of the small park, the familiar form of a Starman Deluxe appeared in front of them. Ness immediately dropped his "For Sale" sign on the ground and drew his bat out of his bag, which was slung over his shoulder. Both Paula and Poo assumed a fighter's stance at the sight of the Starman. Starman Deluxe Gamma focused his gaze on the three teens, trying to read their minds. They must have gotten stronger in the intervening years, for the minds of the three teens were completely closed to them. "Master Giygas has ordered me to track you, but to not engage you in battle," he told them. "But I can see that you are getting stronger and may, indeed, manage to inflict harm to my master." He then gave a pause as he glared at the three teens, an eerie green glow coming from his visor. "I cannot allow you to do that." He then extended his arm towards the teens and they steeled themselves for attack, which was soon to come.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Starman Deluxe Gamma opened the battle by firing a beam of emerald green energy from his visor at the heroes. The three heroes danced to either side of the beam's target, dodging the beam of the Starman Deluxe. They soon continued to dance around to try to avoid the gaze of the Starman Deluxe, knowing that if he drew a bead on them he would fire a beam from his visor. Still, the three knew that the Starman was primarily trying to get them to waste psychic energy on using a normal shield. They knew from previous experience that the real threat that the Starman Deluxe posed was in the form of its psychic attack, PSI Starstorm. Paula immediately erected a PSI Shield Omega in order to protect against such an attack. Meanwhile, Poo and Ness closed in on the Starman Deluxe to double team him. Ness entered the fray first, drawing his baseball bat and taking a swing at the head of the Starman Deluxe. The Starman dodged Ness's swing, but Poo had come up from behind and threw a punch at the head of the Starman. The punch managed to land on the Starman Deluxe's head. The Starman Deluxe recoiled from the impact and fired a pulse of green energy from one of his tentacle-like arms, his target, Ness. Ness deftly aim-dodged the energy pulse and jumped away. Poo tried to launch another attack, but the Starman Deluxe turned to face him and managed to wrap his tentacle around him, trapping the older teen. The Starman Deluxe laughed at Poo's misfortune, but he soon noticed that it was Poo who was smiling.

The air crackled and boomed as a stream of lightning streaked towards the Starman Deluxe with terrifying speed and force. The PSI Thunder attack took the Starman Deluxe completely off guard and before he could react to the oncoming stream of electricity, the bolts of lightning struck the Starman Deluxe. An opaque green sphere, which was the Starman's PSI Shield Beta, flared into existence for a brief instant before being overcome by Paula's PSI Thunder barrage. The shield collapsed and shattered into what looked to be shards of green energy and lightning rocketed through, unhindered to the Starman Deluxe. The psychic lightning struck the Starman Deluxe squarely in the chest before he could bring Poo around to use him as a shield. The lightning left a burn mark in the Starman Deluxe's chest and the Starman reflexively released Poo from his grasp as he flew backwards from the force of Paula's attack. Poo landed gracefully, turned to face the Starman, and then joined in on Paula's attack and fired a volley of PSI Thunder at the stricken Starman as well. Ness simply stepped back to let his friends handle the Starman. He did not wish to interfere or get in their way. Only the psychic strength of the Starman Deluxe is what allowed him to survive such a volley. Still, he was looking pretty ragged now, since lightning was still arcing across his body. His suit was scarred from the damage that he had sustained at the hands of the two PSI Thunder users. Multiple rips and tears were clearly visible on the suit, and one part of the suit in the lower right portion of his abdomen had been completely breached. It took all of his remaining psychic might to keep the Earth air from infiltrating his suit and poisoning him. He could also see his own air supply, a mixture of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen leaking out of the tear. Forget not being able to survive the PSI Rockin that Ness was powering, if something did not happen soon, he would not survive the decompression of his suit. Normally he would merely be able to teleport back to Giygas's base on Mount Itoi or onto one of the ships in orbit, but since he was acting against orders here, he had to keep knowledge of his attack on Ness secret until Ness and his friends were dead. He could deal with facing the consequences of disobeying Giygas if Ness and the others were already dead.

Knowing that he was in trouble, the Starman Deluxe decided that it was time to call for help. He unleashed a psychic scream and called, "Starman Supers, I need your help!"

Immediately, four Starman Supers appeared in front of the Starman Deluxe, spreading out their arms, their yellow uniforms glistening in the sunlight, shielding him from the advance of Ness and his friends. Ness remembered that while they did not have any powerful psychic attacks, they were able to utilize PSI Shield Betas and, as such, would be able to reflect his Rockin attack back at him and his friends. He immediately powered down his Rockin and focused on the newcomers. Starman Supers were not nearly as powerful as Starman Deluxes, but they were no slouches in combat, either. Without Jeff to help them, if they wanted to end this fight relatively quickly, they would need to use some of the ordnance that they had recently acquired from Everdred.

Ness then drew out one of the bombs that Everdred had given him. He pushed its activation stud and cried out, "Fire in the hole!"

Paula and Poo immediately ran back towards Ness and he tossed the bomb straight at the Starman Supers and the Starman Deluxe. The bomb landed among the five combatants and exploded five seconds after its activation. One of the Starman Supers had reached down to try to grab the device and hurl it back at Ness only to have it explode in his arm. That Starman Super had his left half completely vaporized by the explosion. The remaining half of the Starman Super was sent flying, in pieces, through the air, where they littered the landscape. The other Starman Supers and the Starman Deluxe were also affected by the explosion.

Shrapnel tore into the already injured Starman Deluxe and proceeded to shred him. One piece of shrapnel from the bomb managed to pierce his heart, which would have killed him if the concussion of the blast had not done so first. The Starman Deluxe was sent flying a few yards backwards. The three other Starman Supers fared a little better, each of them being given flying lessons the hard way. Eventually, they landed a few yards away from their initial locations. One of them was severely injured by the explosion and the assault of shrapnel, a silvery fluid, which Ness believed was blood, leaking from multiple breaches in his suit. He had been close to the foolish Starman Super that had picked up the bomb and not known what its function was. This one was unfortunate enough to land near Ness, who finished him off with a single bash to the head in order to make sure that he did not cause any more trouble for him, his friends, or the denizens of Twoson later. The other two Starman Supers, were not as severely injured. They had been smart enough to run from the bomb when Ness had tossed the device towards them. The concussion wave of the bomb had managed to knock them to the ground, but other than that, they were unharmed. They took a quick look at their ranks, though, and found that they were hurting now. Starman Deluxe Gamma was dead, though not beyond the ability to revive, as were two of their comrades, one of them actually being beyond the ability to revive. They began to wonder if Starman Deluxe had not underestimated the three human psychics.

The Starman Super that had landed closer to Gamma glanced over to him. He knew that he had to do something fast. If any of the human psychics had launched another attack, then they would be in trouble. Still, Gamma could be revived, so he got to work on it. A green glow came from his visor as he used PSI Healing Omega to completely revive Starman Deluxe Gamma. The tears and breaches on the suit of Gamma immediately sealed. The wounds on the body of Gamma also closed. Any shrapnel that had been inside the body was immediately broken down and converted into energy for the Starman Deluxe. Gamma immediately rose to his feet and examined the situation. "Report!" he commanded.

"The battle does not go well, sir," the subordinate Starman Super responded, surveying the battle, as his comrade had called in backup in the form of Starmen, which were now engaging Ness, Paula, and Poo in a losing battle. "It would appear as if the battle may already be lost. Perhaps we should retreat and…"

"No," Starman Deluxe Gamma cried out, lashing out with his tentacles, knocking down the Starman Super in the process. "These psychics are more dangerous than any other psychics we have ever encountered on this world save for Maria! We have an opportunity to kill them now. If the rest of our forces can come in, we can overwhelm them with superior numbers. My first duty is to serve Giygas and the PSI Lords."

"But how are you doing so by disregarding Master Giygas's orders?" the Starman Super cried out in question over the din of another explosion, which scattered the remains of two Starmen.

"I am serving him by taking out these threats to his power!" Gamma answered hotly. "This battle shows just how powerful they are. There is also the chance that they can become even stronger in a very short amount of time. They did so three years ago. The Chosen Four is a definite threat to Giygas. Three of them are powerful psychics. These psychics are concentrated here without their techie friend to help them against shielded enemies. If Giygas won't deal with these threats, I will!" And that was the end of the conversation as the Starman Deluxe stormed off to engage the three psychics of the Chosen Four once more.

The Starman Super did not move. He only stood back and watched the battle unfold. "You fool," he muttered. "There was a reason Giygas gave the order _not_ to engage the Chosen Four psychics." And from there, he watched the battle unfold to its inevitable conclusion.

Meanwhile, Ness, Paula, and Poo were preparing a new wave of attacks when one of the surviving Starman Supers called in for some backup of his own. Four regular Starmen appeared out of thin air and proceeded to begin their fight against Ness and his friends by unleashing a hail of energy fire against the trio. Upon their appearance, Ness raised a Shield Omega over the three human psychics. The emerald green pulses of energy splashed harmlessly against their energy shields and were reflected back at the Starmen. The pulses of energy burned holes into their bodies as they struck. Two of the Starmen were killed in this hail of energy fire, but two of them still managed to hold on and fight back against Ness and the others. They turned to their Starman Super friend and raised a Shield Alpha over his body. This shield would allow for the Starman to survive physical attacks. The Starman Super, meanwhile, summoned another quartet of Starmen to aid him in the battle. It was fortunate that two surviving Starmen had raised the shield, for just then, a bomb landed dangerously close to the Starman Super. Even with his shield up, he did not want to take the chance of his shield being breached by the ensuing explosion so he fled the scene. The bomb soon exploded among the new quartet of Starmen, as well as the two injured Starmen.

The explosion practically disintegrated the two injured Starmen, ending their threat, and managed to shred two more with shrapnel. Muffled cries could be heard as the explosion sounded, a telltale sign that the blast had inflicted damage to Ness's enemies. The Starmen that were shredded with shrapnel did not survive their injuries, though the other two did manage to survive. The Starman Super decided to retaliate by firing a beam at Ness's party, not realizing that the counter shield that Ness had erected was still up. This was an unfortunate mistake since his beam was immediately reflected back at him. The beam, however, splashed harmlessly against his augmented shield. After breathing a sigh of relief, the Starman Super laughed. "So kids, whatcha gonna do about my shield, huh?"

Ness gave his response in the form of a blast of PSI Rockin. He powered the ball of scarlet energy and quickly unleashed it at the Starman Super. The Starman Super stared at it in horror, realizing his mistake in taunting. He only managed to get out an, "Oh shi…" before being vaporized by Ness's blast of PSI Rockin. The sphere of energy burned a hole in the ground and also managed to engulf two remaining Starmen, who had been standing where they had been summoned like statues, evidently knowing about Ness's shield and that they had nothing that could penetrate it. After a few seconds, the battle seemed over. Ness and his friends were okay, the only damage done to Burglin Park was a hole in the ground that would be easy enough to fill. They were about to leave when Starman Deluxe Gamma appeared once more. Ness caught sight of a Starman Super out of the corner of his eye, but the Starman Super seemed to be merely observing the fight and not taking any direct action against Ness and the others. Ness decided to leave him be, for the moment, and to focus on the stronger enemy, the Starman Deluxe.

Starman Deluxe Gamma opened the next phase of the battle by powering a volley of PSI Starstorm and targeting Ness and his allies. He knew that in order to deal with all of the Starmen and Starman Supers, that either Ness or Poo would have been forced to raise a regular shield over the party, thus overriding the psychic counter shield that had been raised earlier to force him to use his regular attacks and abilities. A dozen green orbs of energy formed around the Starman Deluxe as he powered his attack. He grinned as he faced down the heroes, knowing that he was about to either kill them or inflict significant damage to them. He cried out in a loud voice, "PSI Starstorm!"

Immediately upon yelling out his attack's name, the green orbs energy streaked towards the trio of human psychics. Unfortunately, while Gamma had been powering his attack, Paula had raised a PSI Shield Omega over the party to protect them from the Starman Deluxe's attack. The party did not even bother to move out of the path of the oncoming stars. He laughed at the party, not realizing that Paula had already raised a psychic counter shield over the party. His Starstorm barrage struck the psychic counter shield that had been erected over the party, the shield flaring a bright red before reflecting the dozen green orbs back at the Starman Deluxe. At first, the Starman Deluxe was not concerned. After all, he had a psychic counter shield as well. As the attack got closer, he realized that when the Starman Super had revived him, he had not revived him with his PSI Shield Beta already active. The Starman's eyes widened with horror as he knew that he did not have the time to raise a PSI Shield Beta over his body. Still, he tried to do so anyway. Inside his suit, the Starman Deluxe's eyes glowed as he tried to raise a PSI Shield Beta before the attack managed to strike. He was unsuccessful, only managing to raise the equivalent of a PSI Shield Alpha. The first star hit just before the shield could be turned into a counter shield. The first hit caused the shield to flare and strain against the force of the attack. Then the second star struck, straining the shield to the point of breaking. After that, the third star struck and the shield broke entirely, the star continuing unabated to Starman Deluxe Gamma's body. The Starman Deluxe barely managed to dance out of the way of the third, and dance right into the fourth star. By the time he saw that the star was bearing down on him, the star was only a millimeter away from his face. The star instantaneously struck the Starman Deluxe in the head, vaporizing it in one strike. The rest of the stars rained down upon his body, and the surrounding area, vaporizing what was left of his body, and a good part of the landscape surrounding the Starman Deluxe in the process. When the attack was finished, all that remained were a series of craters about five meters wide in diameter and three meters deep that littered the area near the park's exit.

When the battle was over, Everdred popped out from the overturned stand that he was hiding behind and examined the war zone. He found Ness and his friends walking out of the park and he then saw the craters that littered the ground. He grinned; glad that he was not the one on the receiving end of the attack.

After exiting the park, the psychic trio made their way out of the park they headed back to Paula's house, which was not far away from the park. Paula went inside of her house and after a few minutes, emerged with all sorts of junk. Ness then set up the "For Sale" sign that he had bought over at Burglin Park. Without the Starman Deluxe looming over them, they felt that they had a good opportunity to rest and sell their unneeded items. Ness set up some tables where he placed his various bats on display. His Legendary Bat, however, was kept in a bag that he slung over his shoulder. He would not part with a bat that had been signed by Hank Aaron. Not only that, but the construction of the bat was of such high quality, that it was his best bat for fighting as well. For the next few hours, Ness and Paula held a yard sale. There were a surprising number of customers, and they were quite eager to buy Ness and Paula's unneeded items. By around five o'clock, Ness had made over four hundred dollars off of his old bats, while Paula had made two hundred and eighteen dollars from her ribbons and unneeded copper bracelets. She still kept one for herself until she found something that would increase her defensive abilities further.

After they had sold all of their unneeded items, the three closed up the house and took down the sign. Ness then stored the sign in the garage to Paula's house, with her permission. After that had been completed, Ness and Paula mounted their bikes and headed towards the bus station, their next stop, Threed.

Along the way, the two noticed a new pizza shop. The sign on top of the entrance read _Warp Pizza_. Ness had remembered the old Mach Pizza business. He had always been surprised that his sister's company, Escargo Express, which was named after snails, was so fast in its service, while it took quite a while for Mach Pizza to deliver its pizza. Ness got out a notepad and pencil and wrote down the phone number for Warp Pizza, though. He only hoped that should he order a pizza from the store, that their delivery would be faster than Mach Pizza's had been. However, Ness had not blamed the chain, since it was the delivery boy who was slow to deliver the pizza, and he had quit just after Ness and the others had defeated the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas.

After getting the phone number for Warp Pizza, the trio continued on to the bus station. It was not long before they had arrived at the station. Upon pulling up to the station, Ness and Paula dismounted their bikes and folded them up and stuffed them into their bags. They then entered the station and examined the departure times for the various buses that were scheduled to head to Threed. They soon saw that Bus Fourteen was going to arrive in a half hour and that its destination, after delivering its passengers and taking on new ones, was going to be Threed. They saw that the fare was going to be two dollars per person. That was not bad at all. The three then sought out a bench where they could sit and wait for the bus's arrival. Once they found a bench, they sat and waited.

After half an hour, the bus arrived. It was a large, black bus not all that different from the bus that the Runaway Five had used to take Ness from Twoson to Threed three years ago. After the crowd of passengers had disembarked from the bus, Ness and the others went up the steps and boarded the bus. They paid the toll of two dollars per person and received a bus pass that would last through the whole day. Since they were some of the first of the new group of passengers on the bus and they had their choice of seats. They found some that were close to the front and sat down. Ness and Paula sat next to each other while Poo sat alone in a seat across from them in the center aisle. After taking their seats, Ness and Paula glanced over at each other. Ness simply smiled, while Paula smiled and gave a little blush. Poo saw this and smiled to himself before focusing on what was coming. After a few minutes, the bus had filled up. When the last passenger had boarded the bus, the doors closed and the bus then made its way towards Threed.

On the summit of Mount Itoi, a rocky mountaintop with a gap that housed a large starship, Giygas listened to the report of the Starman Super that had survived the battle against Ness and the others. "Master, the three human psychics are far more powerful than we had initially believed them to be. While I did not agree with Starman Deluxe Gamma, he was my superior officer and I followed his orders. I accept whatever punishment you wish to bestow on me."

Giygas looked at the Starman Super intensely. After a while, he eventually spoke. "I find no fault with your behavior, Starman Super," he told the Starman. "The main fault was Gamma's. Even better is that we now have an accurate report on the known capabilities of Ness and his friends."

"Yes, but I do feel as if Ness and the others held back something," the Starman told Giygas.

"What do you think they held back?" asked a Starman Deluxe who had come up from behind Giygas. Giygas turned and glared at the Starman Deluxe. The Starman shrank under the glare of his master. "Forgive me, Master," the Starman Deluxe apologized.

"You're forgiven," Giygas said curtly. He then turned back to the Starman Super. "Well, answer Starman Deluxe Alpha's question. What do you think they were holding back?"

"A lot," the Starman Super replied. "I could see that Ness did not power his special psychic attack to its fullest level. There was also the fact that neither Paula, nor Poo, used their full arsenal of attacks. I believe that they can do many other things that we have yet to see."

Giygas nodded. He then said, "Thank you for your report, Starman Super. Before you go, there is something I need to give you."

He motioned for one of his servants on the outer hull of the massive starship in the gorge to bring him something. A Starman soon appeared in front of Giygas and presented a katana to Giygas. Giygas took the katana. "This is an Earth weapon, a type of sword that the humans call a katana," Giygas explained, unsheathing the blade. The blade was exquisitely made and had no scars or scratches on it at all. He then handed the sword to the Starman Super. "It is a design that dates back centuries on this planet, yet the metal it is made from is something completely different. The metal resembles steel but it is lighter, yet it is much tougher and more durable. It can also hold a better edge than steel."

"Incredible," the Starman Super said in awe holding the blade and then placing it back into its sheath. "How did the humans manage to make such a metal?"

"They didn't," Giygas answered. This caused the Starman Super's eyes to widen beneath his visor. "At least, they haven't shown the ability to do anything like this as of yet," Giygas said. The Starman Super could tell that this recent turn of events concerned Giygas. "That is part of what I want you to try to find out, especially since even we have not created nor encountered a metal like this before so there's no way it could have come to Earth by way of George. I want you to search the data archives for any information that you can find on the Chosen Four and their friends and families. I need this to be done as quickly as possible. I have a feeling that they will be coming here pretty soon."

"I understand, Master," the Starman Super said. He then saluted Giygas and departed via teleportation.

The Starman Deluxe then came up to Giygas and asked, "So what is our current course of action regarding the Chosen Four right now, Master?"

"Jeff has yet to be found, so we have to focus on Ness, Paula, and Prince Poo," Giygas answered, turning to his cohort. "Unfortunately, Starman Deluxe Gamma took his platoon over to Twoson and engaged Ness and his friends in a battle, one which they lost." He looked down towards the ground. "Damn! What the hell was Gamma thinking picking a fight with Ness and his friends like that when I gave him specific instructions _not_ to engage the psychics?"

"He likely believed that he and his forces were powerful enough to engage and defeat Ness and the others in battle," Starman Deluxe Alpha answered. "After all, according to the last report, Ness and his friends did not have much in the way of normal physical munitions." The Starman Deluxe thought long and hard before asking his next question. "Master, why don't we just send the forces necessary to kill Ness and his friends right now? If we succeed in killing them now, all that will leave us is Jeff, and Jeff has no psychic power. If you don't want us to kill them, then why don't you do it?"

"Because I need them in order to find out more about Earth psychics," Giygas responded calmly. He turned to face the Starman Deluxe and continued, "We lost a great number of forces in the invasion of Dalaam and in the capture of Paula Polestar, including my apprentice, Saiyg. Those three psychics have demonstrated powers far in excess of what the known descendants of George and Maria have demonstrated so far. Had it not been for the Eight Melodies, I would have slaughtered Ninten, along with his friends Ana, and Lloyd when I fought them over a decade ago. Not only that, but Ness's own power seems to rival that of Maria's; and he is what, thirteen Earth years old? There is no way that a human that young should have psychic powers as great as that. It's one thing to have one freak in the form of Maria. But in Ness, Paula, and Poo, we have three, at the same time. Who knows how many other psychics exist on this world? We don't have the rest of the fleet to replace our losses right now. And the fleet that we do have is small and in shambles right now thanks to those three psychics. I need to know if there are more like them, and there's a chance that Ness could lead me to them."

"And if there aren't? What then?"

"If there aren't any more psychics, then good," Giygas responded with a smirk. "Still, I'll want Ness to come to us before I risk engaging him. With the defenses that are currently in place around Mount Itoi, we can likely defeat Ness and the others. We'll just be able to overwhelm them with superior numbers. However, should we split our forces and face Ness when he has access to help, then we could be in trouble."

"But Master, there's no way that Ness can be stronger than you," the Starman Deluxe proclaimed.

Giygas smiled. "I know, at least not yet. Still, I have to be ready for him. If he catches me off guard, the battle might not be as easy as it should be."

The Starman Deluxe nodded. He then proceeded down the mountain to make sure that its defenses were in order. Giygas then watched and waited. He knew that a confrontation with Ness and the others was coming soon. He was going to make sure that he was ready for it.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

When the bus emerged from the tunnel in Threed, it was already seven o'clock in the evening. A chime soon sounded and the voice of the driver could be heard, "Attention everyone. We have arrived in Threed and will arrive at the bus station shortly."

This awoke Ness from his nap. He had fallen asleep almost as soon as he had sat down in his seat, hoping to be able to get some sleep before going through the Threed graveyard and taking the tunnel beneath the graveyard to Grapefruit Falls and then to Saturn Valley. Poo, meanwhile, had been meditating, thinking about the day's events and what the next course of action for the heroes would be. Paula, meanwhile, had been using her telepathic senses to scan the area to make sure that they were not being tracked by one of Giygas's minions. So far, she sensed nothing out of the ordinary.

After a few minutes, the bus stopped and the doors opened. The passengers, including Ness and his friends, disembarked from the bus. While the other passengers were busy mulling about the area, either waiting for another bus that would take them to Fourside, or simply shopping around Threed, Ness and Paula proceeded to unfold their bikes and made their way north along the road with Poo running along behind them.

While they were riding, Ness looked around and saw that despite the sun retreating behind the hills, the approaching darkness had no uneasiness about it, nor was there anything sinister afoot. This was a far cry from Ness's first visit when the town had been infested by zombies. Instead, normal bystanders lined the streets of Threed. Ness and the others passed the circus tents in the center of town. Ness remembered back three years ago when he had battled the demonic Boogey Tent. It was quite refreshing to know that there were, as of yet, no zombies to accost them while they made their way to Grapefruit Falls and then to Saturn Valley. Still, they had yet to reach the graveyard. It was still possible for some unwelcome surprises to be waiting for them there.

By eight o'clock the sun was beginning to set. It was at that time that the trio had reached the graveyard. Ness and Paula rode around the perimeter of the graveyard to see if there were any entrances that they could use. Sure enough, there was a door not too far away on the fence. Even after finding the entrance, the two continued to circle the graveyard. They wanted to ensure that they would not be in store for any unexpected surprises, such as ghosts or zombies, when they entered. So far, everything seemed to be okay. They soon met back up with Poo, and they dismounted from their bikes. The two then folded their bikes and threw them over their shoulders and went on into the graveyard.

The graveyard was massive, far larger than Ness had remembered. Ness and Paula led the way, since they knew the location of the grave that led to the underground tunnel that led to Grapefruit Falls which, in turn, led to Saturn Valley. Poo followed behind closely, keeping his psychic senses open. Paula may have been telepathic, but there were psychics and creatures that could block telepathic scans. Not to mention that undead creatures did not have any minds for Paula to lock onto. However, scans that only searched for energy signatures would not be blocked unless the recipient of the scan was also telepathic, and Poo had been trained to resist telepathic manipulation. So far, the group was in the clear. He could sense nothing out of the ordinary. As they got deeper into the graveyard, however, things began to change. He began to sense other energy signatures.

"Hey guys," he called ahead.

Ness and Paula turned back and looked at Poo. They could see that his face was grim, as if he were preparing for battle. "What is it?" Paula asked.

"We're not alone," he answered in a low voice.

"That's odd, I can't sense anything," Paula began, but she then caught herself, realizing what Poo meant, "which means that it's likely that zombies are present."

Ness immediately drew out his Legendary Bat and prepared for battle. "Any idea where they are?" he asked.

Poo shook his head. "I'm sensing them all around us."

Ness grimaced. That meant that it was likely that the zombies were underground. There would not be a lot of fighting room in the cramped quarters of the catacombs. He, and to a lesser extent, Poo, would be limited in their psychic fighting ability in down there. Still, the trio continued their search for the entrance to the tunnel beneath the graveyard. Along the way, they heard all manner of spooky sounds from the hooting of owls, to the clatter of chains. Poltergeists were about. So far, though, they had taken no interest in the three teenagers that were making their way through the graveyard. Ness did not know whether to be relieved or worried at the latest turn of events. At least, they could conserve their strength for the trip to Saturn Valley, especially since it was getting late and they had already had a workout not only from Paula's black belt test, but also in the battle against Starman Deluxe Gamma and his minions. Eventually, the three teens arrived at the north end of the graveyard. There, they saw the hole in the ground that led directly into a tunnel beneath the graveyard. A ladder was jutting out from the hole. The three then moved towards the ladder and climbed down, first Ness, then Paula, and finally Poo.

When they reached the bottom of the ladder, the trio found a tunnel stretching out in front of them. On both sides of the tunnel, crypts and tombs lined the walls. The tombs, coffins and caskets were not the only thing around, though. The stench of the grave assaulted the noses of the three psychic teens. Poo wrinkled his nose at the smell of the grave, while Ness held his breath and pinched his nose shut. Of all of them, though, Paula fared the worst. The stench had begun to make her feel queasy. She placed her hand over her mouth as she continued following Ness and Poo through the tunnel. She had not remembered the smell being this horrible the last time she had been down here. Still, she was able to keep herself from vomiting and she was able to keep pace with the other two. While they were walking, the trio noticed trash and other discarded items around the coffins. Most of the coffins in this part of the graveyard tunnel contained gold and jewels, along with skeletons or decomposing bodies. As each of the teens passed the treasures, they took a look to see what they consisted of. Mostly, it was merely gold and silver coins and jewels. While there were many that would not have hesitated to take the gold and jewels, such temptations did not enter the minds of Ness and the others. Even though they could have used the money at the moment, they would not defile these graves. With that, they continued on their way through the tunnel. So far, they were fortunate. They had not encountered any zombies or skeletons of any sort, though they had no idea how long their luck would last. They soon saw a doorway in front of them. Without any hesitation, the teens went through and proceeded to make their way into the next area of the tunnel.

In the next area, they were met with more crypts and coffins lining the walls, and even some spread out in the center of the tunnel. This time, however, there was an army of zombies there to meet the three psychic children. The zombies had gray decaying flesh and hair, but they had a more cartoonish than disgusting look about them. The only clothing they had were red shorts. Upon entering the area, the zombies all turned to face the teens. Ness motioned towards Paula to see if she sensed anything. She shook her head. These were true undead. This was not what Ness needed. In this enclosed space, neither he nor Poo could risk using Rockin or Starstorm to take out the zombies, despite those moves being their most powerful offensive attacks, unless they were willing to risk the ceiling of the crypt collapsing on top of them. They would have to do this the old fashioned way. Paula stepped out in front to take on the assault. Her PSI Fire would be the most effective move to use against the undead army that was there to meet them. The first line of zombies shambled their way towards the trio with their arms outstretched. They were moving surprisingly fast for such undead creatures. Paula waited until they crowded together before unleashing her first blast of PSI Fire upon the undead creatures. The expanding cone of flame engulfed over a dozen zombies, human, canine, and other variants alike. Each zombie that had been hit by the attack was quickly reduced to ashes. Even some zombies that had not been directly hit by Paula's attack caught fire after making contact with their burning brethren. Her attack had thinned out the herd a bit, but despite the toll her attack had taken on the zombie army, many more zombies still kept coming.

Poo then helped out with a blast of PSI Thunder. He unleashed the volley into a second crowd of zombies and gave a smile of satisfaction at the results. Another six zombies were destroyed, being reduced to dust by the power of Poo's PSI Thunder. Ness was not standing idly by, either. A zombie had reached for his head, only to be met with a massive swing from Ness's baseball bat. The bat struck the undead, rotting creature, and shattered it, the pieces falling to the ground, moving no more. Paula then unleashed a second blast of flame, and fried even more zombies, reducing them to nothing more than piles of dust. Now, the numbers were beginning to become more manageable. Paula and Poo then unleashed their PSI Fire and PSI Thunder attacks one more time, taking down the rest of the zombies. After a few seconds, the skirmish was over, Ness and his friends had emerged victorious.

After the fight, the three teens continued on their way towards the Grapefruit Falls with nary a word. On the way, however, an anomaly caught Ness's eye. There was a casket along the wall that was partially open. Ness and the others noticed that the usual stench of decomposing flesh had not gotten worse as they approached the casket so they went to investigate. When they got to the casket, Poo went up to it and he pushed it open. The teens' eyes went wide at what was inside.

"My gosh," Paula exclaimed, "it's an arsenal!" Sure enough, staring the teens in the face were around a dozen grenades and bombs of various types. The grenades looked to be merely fragmentation grenades, mainly from World War Two, but it was still quite a find. If nothing else, they would be worth a lot of money to a collector or an arms dealer. The teens were not interested in selling the weapons, though. They were interested in using them.

"Why do you think someone would bury these weapons here?" Poo asked. He was suspicious of the fact that such a large cache of explosives would be located in a grave.

"Who cares," Ness replied as he took the explosives. "Let's just be glad we found them." These explosives would be certain to go a long way to help the heroes should they find themselves in trouble. Ness then took the time to divide the explosives between the three party members, four bombs and grenades for each of the teens. When that was finished, they continued on their trek towards Grapefruit Falls and then to Saturn Valley.

In the next tunnel, the trio found another gaggle of zombies spoiling for a fight. The group smiled confidently. Paula still had enough psychic energy to fry onrushing horde without a having the cost of using her PSI Fire having an adverse effect on her ability to fight at full strength. She stretched out her right hand and a stream of psychic fire issued forth. The flames engulfed the zombies and reduced them to ashes within seconds. The threat had been neutralized. The others almost frowned at how easy it was to defeat these zombies. Still, they were thankful that all they had faced so far were zombies. That was about to change, however.

The three began to inch their way forward once more when Paula held out here hand and called, "Wait!"

Poo stopped immediately and Ness turned around to face the psychic girl. "What is it?" he asked, knowing that she would not have called out about something trivial.

"There's a presence up ahead," she alerted. "This is no zombie."

Both Ness and Poo knew what that meant. The chances of facing something in a graveyard that was a living physical being was next to nothing. That meant that chances were, the next area was inhabited by a ghost of some sort. They had encountered ghosts before, and they were trouble to say the least. While most ghosts were not all that powerful compared to the trio, they had a nasty penchant towards possessing one or more of the party members. The ghosts that possessed the teens would then either attack the teens directly, or attack an ally. While their attacks were weak, remaining possessed for a long time could result in some significant damage, and Ness did not want to deal with the hassle of being possessed since it would be a long way to a hospital or church since they were in a graveyard and he was not all that familiar enough with Threed's new layout to be able to reliably teleport anywhere except to the bus station. Ness then smiled. All he and the other would have to do was not get possessed. Given their abilities, it was likely that this was quite possible. The three teens then marched forward and into the next tunnel.

In the next tunnel, the trio came face to face with a large ghost and an army of zombies and smaller ghosts. The ghost looked just like a stereotypical ghost, a white figure that seemed to be covered in a white satin sheet floating above the ground with two stubby arms with hands. The ghosts were grinning when they caught sight of the teens, spotting what they thought would be new quarry. The large ghost then stared the teens in the eye and said, "Ah, welcome to my humble abode young teens. I am the Master Possessor. I am a spirit without equal. And you three are about to become meat for my army."

The three teens could hear the ghosts cry out and the zombies moan. Their mournful cries sounded like thousands of years of sadness, pain, and loneliness given voice. If their cries were meant to intimidate the psychic teens, though, they were unsuccessful. If anything, their attempt to scare off the teens only served to embolden them. It was now that Ness spoke, "If you value your existence in this world, step aside and do not bother the people in Threed at all. If you do so, we will not fight you."

The Master Possessor merely laughed. "And why would I acquiesce to your offer, boy?" the ghost asked condescendingly.

"Because you don't want to die," Ness responded confidently. That only prompted the ghost to laugh that much harder.

"Die?" he cackled. "Die? You stupid fool! I'm already dead! I'm a ghost."

"You still exist in this realm," Poo noted. "What would happen if you were defeated and the form you have taken here was destroyed?"

The ghost stopped laughing for a moment. This question had caught him off guard, even though he soon realized that it should not have. After all, these kids were quite confident in their ability to defeat the ghost. And it was not just the ghost they seemed to be confident in their ability to beat. They seemed to think that they could defeat the entire army arrayed against them. The ghost then grinned once more. "I won't be beaten," he told Poo in response to the older teen's question. "In fact, it's _you_ who are about to be turned into ghosts!" the Master Possessor cried out.

The Master Possessor then extended its hand towards the trio. The three teens instinctively jumped backwards to avoid the icy hand. The ghost glowered at the heroes and pointed its finger at the heroes. "Kill them!" it commanded at the top of its voice.

The horde of zombies and ghosts then charged towards Ness and the others. Ness almost cursed the fact that they were fighting in an enclosed space, so he could not use his PSI Rockin attack to its fullest effect if he did not want the tunnel to collapse on top of them. The fact that ghosts were immaterial also put him at a significant disadvantage since he had no other reliable damage dealing psychic attacks besides Rockin. Just then, he remembered PSI Flash. It did not deal damage, but it had a chance of instantly knocking out any enemy short of a boss with only one hit. That was good enough for him. He powered the PSI Flash and unleashed it against a horde of oncoming Zombie Possessors. The blue pulse of energy formed above his head and he unleashed it at the horde of ghosts. The blue flash of energy streaked towards the ghosts and when it was in the center of the crowd, Ness detonated the PSI Flash attack. Ness smiled at the results. Two ghosts disappeared, indicating that they had been destroyed, four others were now paralyzed, two others were confused and started to attack their allies, and three other ghosts were crying uncontrollably. Ness's attack had been a complete success. That just left the zombies, who had their hands full with Paula and Poo.

Paula and Poo were dealing with their opponents with contemptuous ease. The first wave of zombies had been completely wiped out by a blast of PSI Fire that Paula had unleashed against them. Still, more zombies came to the call of the Master Possessor. Poo then unleashed a stream of PSI Thunder into a crowd of zombies. His lightning attack managed to fry more zombies and reduce them to dust. Still, with each zombie or wave of zombies that the two psychics managed to destroy, another wave rose up in its place. Ness soon arrived to help out, and he began the show by bashing a few zombies on the head, managing to destroy them with little more than single hits. But for every zombie that fell, three more came at him.

"There's just no end to these guys!" he called out to the others. "If we don't do something soon, we'll be overwhelmed."

The others could not help but agree with Ness's assessment of the situation. They were making little to no progress in dealing with the zombies while more and more zombies were rising, along with the sporadic Zombie Possessor coming around to attempt to take possession of one of the heroes.

Ness then focused his attention on the Master Possessor. The problem that he had was that he did not have the fine control to be able to use his PSI Rockin so that it would only affect the Possessor. If he had unleashed his Rockin in any form that could inflict damage to his enemies, he would risk bringing down the ceiling on top of them. Ness knew that this fact had to be the reason that the Master Possessor was so confident in his ability to defeat them. He knew that they were in trouble, but before he had given up hope, a thought came to him.

"Hey everyone," he called out. "Focus your attacks on the Master Possessor! I'll cover you!"

Paula and Poo turned back towards Ness. "Are you sure?" Paula called out, knowing that Ness could not face down every single one of the zombies and ghosts that were coming.

"Listen," he told them, "as long as the Master Possessor is still around, there will be no end to the wave of enemies he'll conjure up for us to face. If we take him down, though, we can end this onslaught in one fell swoop."

The Master Possessor laughed. "Easier said than done, boy," he gloated. "I'm no pushover."

Ness grinned. "I know," he said with cold confidence.

"And neither are we," Poo added.

Ness then split off from Paula and Poo and attempted to lead away as many of the zombies and ghosts as he could. As he ran, almost all of the zombies and ghosts pursued Ness, knowing that they were taking their afterlives into their own hands when dealing with Paula and Poo, who had better control over their powers, though not necessarily the raw power of Ness. They knew that eventually, they would be able to wear down Ness. What they did not realize, though, was that Ness just led them far enough away so that they would not be able to strike back at Paula and Poo, but that he would be able to assist Paula and Poo should they need his help against the Master Possessor. After Ness stopped, he turned to face down the onrush of zombies. All he could hope for now was for Paula and Poo to be able to take down the Master Possessor before he was overrun.

Paula and Poo began their battle with the Master Possessor by unleashing a stream of PSI Fire and PSI Thunder respectively. The stream of fire had the extra effect of frying the remaining zombies and ghosts that had remained with the Master Possessor. In addition, part of the attack had caught the Master Possessor, inflicting some damage to the ghost. All of Poo's attack, however, had managed to land on target. The Master Possessor cried out in pain as the lightning struck his ectoplasmic form and roared back, "So, you two can fight. Very well, try this!" The Master Possessor then extended his icy hand to try to touch Paula, and thus, possess her. The psychic girl was too quick for him, though. She deftly dodged his attack and retaliated with a blast of PSI Thunder of her own. Since the ghost was so close, there was no way that Paula could miss. Indeed, she managed to land her blow on the ghost, inflicting even more damage on the ectoplasmic entity.

The ghost roared in pain, but this time, he retaliated with a special magical attack. He fired a red beam of energy towards Paula. Seeing the beam coming, Poo raised a Shield Omega over himself, Paula, and Ness. This not only managed to protect himself and Paula from the Master Possessor's attacks, but it also allowed Ness to survive more hits from the zombie army he was holding off at the moment. Poo risked a glance over in Ness's direction to see how he was holding up against the onslaught of zombies and ghosts. Indeed, Ness was holding his own for the moment. However, Poo knew that Ness would not be able to hold out against so many opponents forever, especially if he could not use his strongest attack, PSI Rockin. Still, Ness was hanging in there with his other psychic moves, such as PSI Flash, Paralysis, and Lifeup. While Ness was doing fine for the moment, Poo realized that another problem was coming up on them quickly. They were exhausting their energy reserves. If they used up all of their psychic energy here, then they would be in a lot of trouble since they had nothing that would be able to harm a ghost should a ghost appear later on. Poo thought about using one of his Brain Food Lunches or Bottles of DX Water, but he refrained from doing so. He would not use such powerful and useful items, especially the Brain Food Lunches, until he was left with no other choice. He then rejoined the battle against the Master Possessor once more.

The Master Possessor was on its last legs now. His reflected attack had inflicted more damage to him than either he, or the teens, thought it would have. The fact that he was followed up by a PSI Fire attack did nothing to make him feel any better either. He cursed his weakness to fire based magic and psychic powers and vowed that if he survived this encounter, he would do something to increase his defenses against such attacks in the future. Alas, he would not survive long enough to find the solution to such a problem, for Paula then unleashed another blast of PSI Fire on the ghost. Her attack was joined by a PSI Thunder attack that had been launched by Poo. The two attacks combined were more than sufficient to destroy the ghost. The Master Possessor cried out as he was engulfed by flames and shot down by psychic lightning. The attacks burned through its ectoplasmic shell and the ghost literally disintegrated in front of them. With the destruction of the ghost, the rest of the zombies turned to dust and the other ghosts instantly vanished.

After the battle, Ness ran over to his friends. "Way to go, guys," he called out in praise.

Paula and Poo merely smiled. "He was less than impressive," Poo noted, almost disappointed that the Master Possessor was not more of a challenge. They did not spend any more time talking, though. The group simply continued on its way through the tunnel.

The rest of the journey through the tunnel was without incident of any sort. Without the Master Possessor to animate any of the bodies or skeletons in the graveyard, there were no more zombie attacks, and the last bonds that seemed to keep the ghosts anchored to the physical world were now gone, and thus, they had vanished. A few Mr. Battys, bat-like enemies, had tried to start some trouble, but they were quickly dealt with. Eventually, the trio saw a stairwell that led to a soft light. That only meant one thing to them; they had arrived at the Grapefruit Falls. The three teens quickly climbed the stairs and emerged from the dark crypt and onto the surface once more. By now, though, nightfall had come.

The three stood at the top of the stairs and waited for a moment, listening to the sounds that were around them. They could hear the running water of the river to their left, and the sound of falling water in the distance. They knew that they were close now. It would not be long before they would reach the tunnel that would take them to Saturn Valley. After taking in the sights, the limited amount that they could see in the dark, they hurried along their way. As they were running, Ness checked his watch. It was already ten o'clock at night. With the battles that they had fought earlier, fatigue was catching up to him. He almost wished that he had decided to stay at the Threed Hotel. He realized, though, that there was not much point to second guessing that decision. What was done was done. Now he just had to get to Saturn Valley. The Mr. Saturns in Saturn Valley should have some good lodging for the night. At least, Ness hoped they did.

The trip through Grapefruit Falls was actually surprisingly uneventful. Only a single Grizzly Bear happened to come upon the teens. A single low-level blast of PSI Flash was sufficient to drive the beast off. With that out of the way, they continued on their way. The teens kept their eyes, ears, and psychic senses open, though. They did not want to be caught unawares, even though the climate was quite pleasant and there was no sign of any other psychic presences beside themselves. After about a half hour of running and walking, the trio found the entrance to a tunnel on the side of a mountain. They knew that this was the tunnel that would lead them to Saturn Valley. The three psychics quickly made their way into the tunnel.

The inside of the tunnel was dark, but the darkness did not frighten them. Paula led the way, her eyes glowing as she used her telepathic senses to scan the surrounding area to detect the presence of any enemies that might be waiting in ambush. So far, the coast was clear. The trio continued through the tunnel, meeting no resistance, until they found the exit a few hundred yards away. Despite the fatigue the teens were feeling, at the sight of the entrance to Saturn Valley, the three teens rushed towards the door. Upon reaching the door they rushed through, as if they were travelers dying of thirst seeing a spring full of water. They then made their way into Saturn Valley.

Inside Saturn Valley, Ness was immediately greeted by a Mr. Saturn. "Welcome to Saturn Valley. It is sleep time now. _Boing_! If you need a bed, we have a place for rest not too far away," the alien said in a high-pitched voice that made it sound like a kindergarten child.

Ness made no reply as he continued on his way. Not far into their walk, they found a young human male. He looked to be not much older than Ness and Paula. He fat and was dressed in a shirt that was the color of red apples. He even had dark red hair. The trio immediately recognized this boy as the inventor Apple Kid. The three psychics then ran up to him and greeted him. "Hey Apple Kid," Ness called out.

Apple Kid turned and saw the trio of psychics coming towards him. "Hey there, everyone," he exclaimed. "How's it going?"

"Not too bad, considering the circumstances," Ness replied, offering his hand. Apple Kid took it and they shook. Ness was surprised at the strength of Apple Kid's grip. Apple Kid then released Ness's hand and shook the hands of the others. He quickly noticed that Jeff was absent.

"Where's Jeff?" Apple Kid asked. "The rest of the group is here, but I haven't seen him."

"That's the main reason that we've come," Ness explained. "We're looking for Jeff. Paula said that she could not sense him anywhere at all. We were wondering if there was anything you could do to help us find him."

"There might me something," Apple Kid hinted. "But it's still in Twoson and right now, I'm tired from preparing everything for my summer assistant who arrives tomorrow morning."

"That's okay," Paula said before Ness could say anything. "We were going to rest before beginning anything in earnest with regards to the search anyway." Even though Ness was still able to function, Paula was already feeling the toll the day had taken on her, due to not only her black belt test and fight against the Starman Deluxe and his minions, but also due to carrying the load in the battle against the Master Possessor. She was eager to get a good night's sleep in a bed of any sort. "Do you know where a good place for lodging is?" she asked eagerly.

Apple Kid smiled. "Sure. Follow me." He then headed along the main trail. The other psychic teens followed. Ness was not too happy about having to sleep, though he was still the freshest of the three of them since he had managed to get some sleep on the way to Threed while the others had not. His heart began to soften as he realized that they all could do for a good night's sleep. That way, if Giygas tried anything, they could be ready.

Apple Kid led them to a small log cabin. Ness wondered at first if this could hold three people. Apple Kid opened the door for them and inside they found that the cabin was furnished with a kitchen and two bedrooms. That was more than Ness thought the cabin would have. He thanked Apple Kid as he went off to claim one of the bedrooms. "You're welcome," Apple Kid called back in reply. He then left the three of them in the cabin, and went to his own little house to get some sleep before his new assistant arrived the next morning.

In the Onett Hall of Records, the Starman Super searched for any trace of Ness's ancestry. He quickly found records of both of his parents. He then searched for the history of his parents. He had recognized that Ness's father had used armor and weaponry that was far in advance of anything that Earth currently possessed. In fact, it was even more advanced than the technology of the PSI Lords. There was no way that a human should be able to posses such technology. Not now. He could let this mystery go unsolved. He then typed in some new parameters into the computer that he was using. He first checked the database for the name of Ness's father. He met with little success. There were people of the same name, but none of them matched the description of Ness's father. Eventually he found a description matching that of Ness's father. Nothing about his records really stood out. He read that Ness's father worked with DARPA as a consultant, but not much else. He was married and had two kids, but the Starman knew that already. He also got the names of the parents of Ness's father. However, upon looking up the names of Ness's grandparents on his father's side, the Starman found that they did not exist. While there were people under that name that existed, they were either long dead, or never had any children of their own, legitimate or otherwise. This puzzled the Starman Super greatly. Not only that, but upon looking deeper, none of the records regarding Ness's ancestry went back farther than his grandparents on his father's side.

Next the Starman Super looked up Ness's mother. Again, he found out her date of birth, her parents, her occupation, and so on. However, just as with Ness's father, when he looked for the parents of Ness's mother, he found that those records seemed to be forged. The names of Ness's grandparents on his mother's side were named after people who had already been dead for over a century. Not only that, but again, his ancestry on his mother's side went back no farther than two generations. All of these things deeply puzzled the Starman Super. "Who is this kid?" he muttered to himself at last. "And where did he come from?" He knew that Ness was human. All of his vitals and biosigns pointed to that clearly. There seemed to be no evidence that he was a product of genetic engineering or a clone of any sort either. That only left a few alternative options. Before he would jump to conclusions about Ness and his friends, he would have to do more research. With that in mind, he knew that his next destination would be Twoson, the supposed birthplace of Paula. He promptly vanished from Onett's Hall of Records, the first part of his mission complete.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Ness, Paula, and Poo awoke the next day after some much needed sleep. After washing and eating their breakfast, which the Mr. Saturns had provided free of charge, the three emerged from the log cabin and began to explore the valley. While Paula went to shop for some improved equipment at a shop not too far from their cabin, Ness and Poo decided to take a tour of the entire valley. They did not tour the valley simply to sightsee, though. Ness and Poo were both able to teleport to places that they had already visited. However, they could only do so if they were familiar enough with the location to be able to teleport there safely. That was why Ness and Poo mainly teleported to the centers of towns and cities when they teleported to other locations. As they explored the valley, Ness began to remember the various sites that he had visited on his first visit to the valley. Saturn Valley had changed a lot in the three years that Ness had been away. There were houses that were shaped like Mr. Saturns as well as other buildings throughout the valley. There were also various other new projects that the Mr. Saturns were working on as well. In one area of the valley, Ness saw them building what appeared to be a large spaceship that had a diameter of around thirty meters or so. It looked like a silver disk that had a disturbing similarity to the UFOs that the PSI Aliens used. The difference was that the dome top was replaced with what looked to be twin energy cannons that used a swivel mount. Considering the barrel size of those cannons, Ness surmised that they were designed for use against capital ships. The Mr. Saturns were mulling about on the ship, welding plates of armor and checking out other systems, making sure that they were going to function properly. Ness had always wondered how they could use such technology when it seemed as if they had no arms to speak of. Poo wondered this as well, especially considering the fact that he could not sense any psychic or magical energy emanating from the odd-looking creatures.

Continuing through the valley, the two psychic teens met a number of Mr. Saturns. They each greeted the teens, welcoming them to the valley and wishing them a pleasant stay. They were as nice as Ness had remembered from three years ago. He also looked at the directories placed throughout the valley for assistance to find important locations. As always, these were scribbled in what looked to be kindergarten scrawl, which made it difficult for Ness to understand at first. After looking at any particular sign for a few seconds, though, he managed to understand the signs. A passing thought came to him and he wondered just how Doctor Andonuts, and the Apple Kid, for that matter, had managed to work with the Mr. Saturns for so long. He did not deny that they had technical talents. It was just that Mr. Saturn writing was so difficult to read when first looking at it. They must have gotten used to it by being with the Mr. Saturns for so long.

When their tour was finished, they returned to the lodge. Outside the cabin, Paula stood, waiting for them. When they arrived, she asked, "So, did you enjoy your tour?" Her tone was playful.

"Yes," Ness replied.

"And was it helpful?"

"It was," Poo replied. "Now we can teleport back to Saturn Valley safely," he added. "Not only that, but we can now teleport to different parts of the valley should the need arise."

"I see," Paula said. She then showed the others what she had bought over at the Saturn Shop. She showed off her new Red Ribbon and her Silver Bracelet. "Ness you should stop in the shop and take a look around. You might find something useful in there."

"I'll consider it," he told her. "But first, we need to talk to Apple Kid right now. If anyone can help us find Jeff, he can."

The others agreed and the three of them made their way over to the small house that Apple Kid had been staying in. Ness approached the door and knocked. A call proclaiming, "It's open," came from inside the house.

Ness opened the door and the three teens entered. "Oh, it's you," Apple Kid said as the psychics entered. "I'm sorry I could not help you more last night, but I had already had a busy day preparing for the arrival of my new summer assistant." He ceased the new project that he was working on and approached the teens, asking, "So, what can I help you with today?"

"We know this is a long shot, but we were wondering if you could help us find our friend, Jeff Andonuts," Paula explained.

"I see," Apple Kid mused. "I noticed that he was not with you. I'll see what I can do, but I don't have much to go on right now. Have you tried scanning for him telepathically?"

"Yes," Paula answered. Despite the fact that her voice was calm, she felt a little indignant. Given that she was a telepath, that was the first thing she had done. "I could not sense him anywhere at all. It was as if he had disappeared off of the face of the Earth."

"Hmm," Apple Kid murmured. "And the last time you saw him was when that strange beam hit you and your families back at Ness's house, right?"

The teens nodded.

"I was also sent back in time when that beam hit us," Ness added.

"Then there's a strong possibility that Jeff was sent somewhere in time," the Apple Kid concluded. He faced Ness and asked, "So where in time were you sent?"

"Nineteen eighteen," Ness answered.

"But the rest of you were merely sent to different places in the present, just like me, right?"

Paula and Poo nodded.

"So, is there any way to find Jeff?" Ness asked.

Apple Kid considered the question for a moment. Eventually he responded, "Possibly, but it's going to be tricky. First, I'll need something that contains Jeff's DNA. It doesn't have to be a lot. Skin cells or a strand of hair will suffice."

This was a problem, for none of the teens had anything that contained Jeff's DNA. "So, was Jeff working on anything here?" Paula asked Apple Kid.

Apple Kid's eyes lit up. "Yes, he was," he exclaimed. "He was working on some improved Counter PSI Helmet here. He didn't finish it and wore an imperfect prototype to the party. He should still have it somewhere in his new lab. Follow me," he told the three teens.

The psychics followed Apple Kid into a house a few hundred yards north. The house looked identical to all of the other houses in Saturn Valley. Apple Kid approached the entrance to the house and opened the door. He entered the house and searched for the incomplete helmet, followed by Ness and the others. Unlike Apple Kid's house and lab, Jeff's house was quite tidy. On the wall there was an auto-revitalization capsule. That was of little interest to him, though, since that was the work of Doctor Andonuts. Sitting on a table against the far wall was the helmet. Apple Kid pulled out a device that looked like a Star Trek tricorder and scanned the helmet.

"We're in luck," he called. "This helmet has samples of Jeff's DNA on it."

"Excellent," Paula cried out in joy. "Now we'll have a chance to find out where, and even when, he is."

"Let's hope," Apple Kid said.

He grabbed the helmet and promptly left Jeff's house and took the helmet to his lab. As he made his way to the lab, he told Ness and the others, "It'll be some time before I manage to find Jeff, if he can be found at all. You can take your time taking in the sights of the valley and see what changes have been made in the last three years."

Ness and the others then left Apple Kid alone with his work. Ness took this opportunity to go to the Saturn Valley Shop and take a look at the merchandise. He found that there was not much of a selection of weapons or armor, but there was a Horn of Life, an item that could revive an unconscious or dead ally if it was used quickly enough on the ally and if the brain had not been too severely damaged in the process. Ness sold his Frozen Steak, since he had enough healing items and could use the extra money, and bought the Horn of Life and some Secret Herbs. Poo also bought a couple Secret Herbs as well, as had Paula on her previous trip into the store.

Once they were finished they returned to the lab to wait for Apple Kid to wait for the fruits of his labor. The three waited in silence. None of them were all that good at making small talk so where others would pass the time talking about various pieces of gossip or news, the three psychics waited in silence. Sometimes the silence was punctuated by one of them deciding that they wished to spar with another in order to keep their martial arts skills honed. While they were all powerful psychics, there were enemies that had powerful psychic defenses, but were relatively weak against physical attacks and unskilled in physical combat. Being versed in the art of close combat would be of use against such enemies.

After an hour of sparring and rest periods, Apple Kid emerged from his house. "I think I've located Jeff Andonuts!" he called.

Immediately, the teens jumped at the announcement and rushed over to him. "So, where is he?" Ness asked excitedly upon coming over to Apple Kid.

Apple Kid's expression turned gloomy. "That's the problem. He's in the future. I managed to lock onto his signal as coming from several decades in the future. Not only that, but it seems as if he's in Winters at the moment, not too far away from Snow Wood Boarding School."

The teens' expressions of hope turned to gloom echoing Apple Kid's. "Great," Paula almost moaned. "Just when things had been looking up, too."

"Hey Apple Kid," Poo chimed in, "can you build a Phase Distorter that could take us to the future?"

"I could," he replied. "But you wouldn't be able to use it. My design is based on the Phase Distorter that Doctor Andonuts and I built three years ago to take you into the past to fight Giygas. Not only that, but it's a one-way trip. You wouldn't be able to get back once you found Jeff. I could build some robot bodies, but they would not last forever, and if you ever left them to return to your regular bodies, you'd still be leaving Jeff in the future."

"I may have a solution to our dilemma," Ness interjected.

All eyes turned to Ness. He then explained what he meant. "When I was sent to the past, I managed to escape Giygas and the PSI Aliens by using a Phase Distorter. It was able to transport me as well as George and Maria safely back to Earth, and then transport me safely back to this time."

"So where is it?" Paula asked excitedly.

That was when Ness frowned again. "It's back in Onett in many pieces. It was destroyed almost immediately upon my return."

The group then frowned once more. Apple Kid, however, had not given up hope. "Let's not get so down yet," he told them. "If there's enough of the machine left, I believe I could rebuild it. I could use my own knowledge of Phase Distorters to repair it and if the parts that allow it to be safe for human travel are undamaged or at least repairable by myself, then you'd have a chance to get to Jeff and rescue him.

The spirits of the party lifted at that news. "Then what are we waiting for?" Paula asked. "Let's get that Phase Distorter wreck back here."

Ness smiled and called to everyone, "Come here. I'll need to be in physical contact with you for us all to teleport to Onett."

After the three had gathered together, Ness's eyes began to glow. Immediately the lush, green valley disappeared and its image was replaced with the image of buildings, cars, and shops. Ness recognized this as being downtown Onett. Ness and Paula immediately unfolded their collapsible bikes and rode towards Ness's house. Their journey was now free of incident. The local gangs were not causing any more trouble ever since the Sharks had been put out of business by Ness.

After a lengthy ride, Ness and the others arrived near his house. Metallic shards littered the streets of Onett, but there was one thing missing. The wreckage of the Phase Distorter was gone. "Where is it?" Paula asked Ness. "I thought you said it was right here."

"It was," Ness contended. "I know it was." He then relaxed and looked down at the ground. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. There's no way the town's government would allow such a wreck to remain here in the center of the street for so long."

"So where would it go and who would know where it is?" Poo asked.

"I guess that it would first go to either City Hall or the Police Station so someone could claim it," Ness suggested. "Other than that, there's the old Hall of Science near the Town Hall, which has been converted into a warehouse. If it's not at the station or City Hall, it's would likely be there. Heck, the Hall of Science is the first place I would look."

With that, the three then proceeded to make their way back to downtown Onett. Ness and the others decided that the best bet for finding the wreckage of the Phase Distorter would be to check out the Onett Hall of Science. Just as Ness had said, there was a nondescript building standing right next to Town Hall. The building was not very tall. It only looked to be a few stories, but it encompassed a large area. It had a domed roof, but the dome had no glass windows. The doors were closed, but that was no problem for Ness. Using his telekinesis, he managed to unlock the door and he pushed it open. The three teens then proceeded to make their way inside the Hall of Science.

The interior of the hall was dark until Poo found a light switch and turned on the lights. When the lights finally illuminated the warehouse, they found the warehouse crawling with rats and bats. These animals were no real threat to Ness and the others. They made their way through the warehouse, searching for any sign of the Phase Distorter. Before they split up to be able to search the warehouse faster, Paula went over to Ness and asked, "Hey Ness, what does the Phase Distorter look like?"

"It was a gray sphere with a glass window before it was destroyed," Ness replied. "Given its condition after its destruction, I would look for a gray semi-sphere that has jagged edges and a burnt interior. There may also be burn marks on the outside of the craft as well."

"Okay, thanks" Paula replied.

"I think we should split up and search for the Phase Distorter," Poo suggested. "We'll be able to cover more ground quicker. Whoever finds the Phase Distorter can call out to alert the rest of us."

The others agreed with Poo's suggestion and the three fanned out to search for the Phase Distorter. Ness began his search for the Phase Distorter in a sea of other items and inventions. Ness recognized the Suporma, a machine invented by Orange Kid, a rival inventor of Apple Kid's. The machine, however, had served little purpose. Ness continued to search the area and he found several interesting items, not the least of which was a damaged UFO. There were burn marks on the craft and there were several holes blown into the hull, but the craft was still relatively intact, though it apparently was non-functional. At least, Ness hoped that it was non-functional. The rest of the place seemed to hold other strange items, from what looked to be miniature robots that had weapons designed for war to robots that would work around the house. It was not long before Ness heard a call from Poo, "I found it!"

Immediately, Ness ran in the direction of Poo's voice. When he arrived he found Poo standing next to a gray semi-sphere that looked like it could have originally held around three or four people. It was a burned out wreck with multiple hull breaches and fractures, with the top half of the craft completely missing, but there was no mistaking it. It was the Phase Distorter. Paula soon arrived and saw it. She went over to the machine and climbed into it, carefully examining every inch of it before frowning. This was not good. "What's wrong?" Poo asked.

"This thing's been completely stripped," Paula replied in disgust.

Ness and Poo then took a closer look at the Phase Distorter and instantly came to the same conclusion. The computer panels and steering stick that Ness had used were completely gone. Ness had doubted that the initial destruction of the Phase Distorter had destroyed the consoles entirely. That was not all, though. The walls had several rends in them and it appeared as if the wires and circuit boards had since been removed. It was as if this machine had gone through a chop shop. This was not the work of the government.

"So, what do we do now?" Paula asked glumly. "Unless by some miracle one of the few things remaining here is whatever allows for safe time travel, we're stuck."

"We can hope that the time drive is still intact," Ness answered.

"I would not place much hope on that outcome," Poo said in a dour tone.

"Still, we should get this back to Apple Kid," Ness told the others. "If anyone can figure this thing out, he can."

The others agreed. Maybe by some miracle there was something that Apple Kid could do to salvage this wreck of a Phase Distorter. Bolstered by that small ray of hope the trio then surrounded the broken machine and after they had touched the machine, they teleported back to Saturn Valley.

The trio reappeared back in the middle of Saturn Valley close to Apple Kid's house along with the wreck of the Phase Distorter. Apple Kid was quick to emerge from his house after the Phase Distorter had arrived. Upon seeing the wreck, he gawked. "Wow," he eventually exhaled. "This thing's really gone through the ringer, hasn't it?"

The psychics made no comment. Apple Kid approached the machine and gave it a once over. After less than a minute of looking at it, he said, "If it weren't for the potential of getting a safe time drive out of this thing, I'd have simply scuttled the thing entirely and start from scratch. Heck, I might still just use this shell for scrap anyway."

"So, any idea if the time drive of this thing somehow managed to survive its destruction and subsequent stripping?" Ness asked the inventor.

"Looking at it right now, I highly doubt it," Apple Kid responded, studying the wreck. "But, you never know. We might get lucky. I'll have my new assistant help me with this."

He then called out to his assistant, "Hey Hannah, could you come out? I could really use your help out here."

Ness recognized the name that Apple Kid had called. For an instant, he wondered if the Hannah that Apple Kid was referring to was the same Hannah that had been partially possessed by the Golden Entity earlier. His question was answered when a young girl about ten years old emerged from Apple Kid's house, which also doubled as his lab. She was dressed in a white lab coat and khaki pants. Her face was obscured by several rolled up papers that Ness figured were blueprints for various inventions that she was carrying to Apple Kid. When she arrived, she laid the papers at Apple Kid's feet Ness and Paula found that it, indeed, was the same Hannah. Hannah noticed the two teens, and their older friend, and her eyes widened in recognition of them. "Hey Ness, fancy meeting you here," she exclaimed as she rushed over to see them. "So, what are you and your older friend here in Saturn Valley for?"

"I was just about to ask you the same question," Paula said in reply.

Hannah laughed. "Well, as you almost certainly know right now, I'm going to be Apple Kid's assistant for the summer. Science has always fascinated me and I wanted to get some hands-on experience building and inventing stuff. So now, my previous question still stands. What are you all doing here?"

"We're searching for a friend who was lost after the attack in Onett, Jeff Andonuts," Ness replied for the rest of the party.

Hannah recognized the name. "So you still haven't found him," she noted.

The others shook their heads. "So how will this thing help you find him?" she asked.

It was Apple Kid who answered. "We have already located Jeffery Andonuts in time. He is currently located a number of years in the future. This wreck is the remains of a device called a Phase Distorter, a machine that allows for time travel. While all human built Phase Distorters have a flaw that does not allow organic material to survive a trip through time, the technology of the alien race referred to as the PSI Aliens has gotten around that problem. This machine was built by the PSI Aliens decades ago and is the only known Phase Distorter that allows for safe time travel of organics. At least it would if it still had its time drive," Apple Kid added.

The trio shrugged. They had suspected that the Phase Distorter had been stripped. "Any chance that there's enough here to piece together a safe time drive?" Ness asked, hoping that Apple Kid would answer in the affirmative.

Apple Kid shook his head. "No," he said flatly. "However, there is enough technology here for me to be able to identify any other type of technology that was made by the PSI Aliens."

This answer gave hope to the teens and their spirits lifted. "Any chance that you could find the time drive?" Paula asked.

"Yeah," Apple Kid replied. "I'll find it the same way I managed to find Jeff. But even when you find the time drive, I'll still need a fuel source for the Phase Distorter. Like the human built Phase Distorters, it takes Zexonyte. Anyway, I've gotta go inside and search for the time drive. Assuming it's still on Earth, it shouldn't take too long."

The three then waited outside while Apple Kid went inside to scan for the time drive. Inside the lab, he placed a panel with wires from the remains of the Phase Distorter and placed it inside the scanner a scanner that was the size of an old super computer from the nineteen seventies, and looked to have been designed around the shell of one as well. A light appeared and seemed to flow over the object, much like it would with a photocopier. The image of the panel appeared on the screen above the device. Apple Kid then scanned the parameters of the technology and recorded the specifications of the device. He then input the data into his own super computer and sensor array right next to the scanner. He then began to scan for technology similar to that of the control panel, either in terms of physical construction and materials, or due to the type of energy that would be produced had the panel functioned, his scanner had managed to get the panel to function for a brief second. Soon, he had all the data he needed. His assistant, Hannah, rose from where she had been working on her own pet project and came over to take a look at what Apple Kid was doing. Upon seeing the data, she whistled. "This looks like trouble," she said warily.

"It most certainly could be," Apple Kid agreed. Then, he and Hannah headed back out to talk to the heroes.

Outside, the two went over to the three psychics, who were waiting patiently and Apple Kid began by telling them, "I've completed my scan and it seems as if we're in luck. I've found not one, but two potential time drives for this Phase Distorter. One of them is on Mount Itoi, a ways away from here to the west. The issue with that is that my sensors picked up a lot of activity there."

"A _lot_ of activity," Hannah reiterated. "Not only that, but I've heard news of attacks by strange creatures on Mount Itoi. According to news reports, several hikers have been found dead on the mountain, and there have been reports of other injuries. The injured have been constantly speaking of strange men in suits that were either gray, blue, or yellow with visors and tentacle-like arms. Some even said that there were land-based squids attacking them as well."

The teen immediately recognized the descriptions as belonging to Starmen and Mooks. The blue suited Starmen seemed to puzzle them at first, but they did not dwell on it. "I'd be willing to bet my life allowance earnings that Mount Itoi is the PSI Aliens' base of operations."

"Yeah, I'd take that bet too," Poo agreed quietly.

"Where was the other time drive?" Ness inquired, viewing a storming of Mount Itoi as being a last resort due to the defenses there.

"This is the good news, so to speak," Apple Kid told them. "It's over in Fourside, in the former Monotoli Building."

"What do you mean, 'so to speak'?" Paula asked.

"Well, there's a crime lord in Fourside named Falcone Lombardi," Apple Kid explained. "He took over the organized crime units three years ago and now basically runs the city. Ever since then, he's basically controlled Fourside entirely. Even the Fourside police only serve him, and they're allowing a lot of bad stuff to go on there. If you're familiar with the comic book _Sin City_, think Senator Roark, only without the kids and the fact that Mister Lombardi basically has a monopoly on crime."

"And I thought things were bad when Monotoli ran the city," Paula lamented.

This only served to get Ness excited, though. "Looks like we'll be doing clean up once more," he said in quiet excitement. His excitement was echoed by Poo. Hannah took one look at the face of Poo and recoiled. _Boy am I glad not to be in that guy's crosshairs_, she thought.

"There is one piece of good news, though," Apple Kid added. "Falcone Lombardi does not have seem to have any links to the PSI Aliens save for this technology, which he could have used his position in the government to get a hold of."

"So this should be pretty easy," Ness finished. "That is assuming he, in fact, does not have any connections to Giygas."

"Let's hope so," Paula added.

With that, they turned to Apple Kid and waved goodbye to him. Apple Kid and Hannah called out, "Good luck in Fourside," while waving at the teens.

Ness and the others smiled kindly at them. After that, the three of them held hands and vanished into thin air.

Not too far away from Saturn Valley, the Starman Super stood. He had struck out again in Twoson, which did not surprise him. While he had found records of Paula's parents, he had found nothing about her grandparents on either side of her family. He suspected that had Dalaam not been destroyed, the records for Prince Poo, there would also be similar. He also suspected the same about Jeff, who was from Winters. He now strongly suspected that there was something truly remarkable about the Chosen Four. As for right now, though, he now had a new mission. He had overheard the conversation that Apple Kid had with the three psychics. They had found Jeff Andonuts, and he was somewhere in the future. He had to report back to Giygas what he had heard. But first, he had another errand to run, one pertaining to his last mission. He had to see if Jeff's information was similar to Ness, Paula, and Poo's. He suspected that it was, but he had to be certain. Master Giygas would not tolerate anything but the utmost thoroughness with such important and necessary information since whatever information was gleaned about the Chosen Four and their nature would be the basis for the plans of the PSI Lord invasion when the fleet itself came to Earth. He then vanished, his destination, Winters.

The three reappeared in Threed, near the bus station. Their sudden appearance startled a lot of the occupants of the bus station, sending a few of them running away, screaming. Their reaction startled Paula, and Ness to a lesser extent, but Poo was a cool as ever. They quickly went over to the terminal that had the schedule for bus departures. They were in luck, a bus was departing for Fourside in five minutes. They found the bus number, Number Eleven, and they quickly rushed over to the bus.

Upon reaching the bus, they found that it was already taking on passengers for Fourside. The psychic trio got in line behind the smallest line and waited to board the bus. When they reached the attendant, they took a ticket, for each of them, costing only two dollars per ticket. The three psychics handed the man the cash and boarded the bus. Then, they waited for the bus to depart and head for Fourside, mentally preparing themselves for the journey ahead.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Falcone Lombardi sat in his opulent office, which doubled as his apartment, in the former Monotoli Building. His apartment was adorned with luxurious carpeting and sofas that were the size of beds. There was a bed the side room where a trio of gorgeous, young, and scantily clad women waited on his every pleasure. The walls of his apartment were adorned with pictures of the crime lord at various locations taking various poses. One was of him and the President of Fourside Department Store shaking hands, another was of him with the Fourside Police Chief, the one that was loyal to him, of course. Yes, all was right with his world. As for the man, himself, he was actually quite handsome and not the stereotypical mob boss. He was nearly six feet tall, only weighing around one hundred and seventy pounds, almost all of it muscle. He was clad in a business suit with a black bowtie. Guarding him were two guards who moonlighted as police officers. He was quite content in his office while he studied the alien device sitting on the desk where he was sitting. The device looked like a miniature console, but it was covered in what looked to be platinum. The crime lord sat at the desk, trying to get the device to work. He had been trying to get it to work for hours to no avail; and his frustration was beginning to show. He tossed the panel into the wall where its collision with the wall left a dent and a crack in the wall. "Damn it," he shouted impatiently. "How do I get this thing to work?"

The two guards, dressed in suits and sunglasses did not dare to answer since they had been as perplexed by the device's function when they had stripped the thing out of the strange craft as their boss had been now. The rest of the technology that had been looted from the strange craft was already in storage in various safe houses and private collections of Falcone Lombardi. It was then that the crime lord noticed the tear in the wall. "And how did that blemish appear there on my wall?" he roared.

The two guards remained silent, which may or may not have been the right course of action for them, for the eyes of their boss focused on them and bored into their souls. "Did _you_ damage my wall?"

"Uh, no sir," they stammered in reply under his withering gaze. After a few more moments of being under intense scrutiny, Lombardi's expression softened.

"You're telling the truth," he commented. "Good. I have need of men who are honest enough with me. "But not too honest in other things," he added quickly.

His two guards then breathed sighs of relief as their boss pushed a few keys on his computer. His day had been hectic. He had to arrange to carry out several favors for some of his "friends", as well as make sure his criminal empire was running smoothly, something that had not been happening ever since his people had kidnapped a series of children from the playgrounds of parks and even from the local schools and houses. He had intended to ransom them back to their parents for exorbitant sums of money, but failing that, he knew that he could find a use for them, especially for the girls. An image of his schedule and other various important things appeared on the screen. He then pushed a key and spoke into a microphone on the computer saying, "Hey, Roberto, tell Miss Fraud that I'll need some more girls, the of age ones, that is, to go over to the Lombardi Hotel for the political fundraiser tonight. The politicians there and my clients will need some entertainment."

"Understood, sir," a voice came in over the speaker. Just as he severed the connection on the speaker, an alarm blared into existence. A mechanical voice soon sounded over the din. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!

"What the…?" Lombardi began as he pushed a button on screen. The image of a muscle-bound man in a red muscle t-shirt with black hair, sunglasses, and wielding a katana filled the screen. Two of his guards tried to tackle the man, only to be cut down by a single swing of the man's katana. Falcone Lombardi groaned at the sight and swore, for he instantly recognized the man who appeared on the screen. "Why did Teddy have to show up now?" Teddy, a traveling singer who had recently landed a gig at the Topolla Theater, had managed to find out about his business and was doing everything in his power to bring him down. He had already cost him a lot of money and even managed to get some of his men arrested by the police that were still loyal to the mayor of Fourside, Enrich Flavor, as well as the FBI. Not only that, but Teddy had evidence linking him to the kidnapping of the missing children, particularly the girls that were missing, some of who were under ten, who were to be ransomed back to their parents at an exorbitant fee. And if their parents could not pay the fee, they would go into the employ of Falcone Lombardi as "Companions in training", in other words, child prostitutes, if they were "lucky". The others may have simply been sold off to the highest bidder. Teddy had been making several attempts at rescuing them from Mr. Lombardi and had already managed to rescue several of the girls. He could always send out assassins to take out the rescued children and their parents later. Now it was time to deal with the annoyance, permanently.

"Do you want us to deal with him, sir?" one of his guards asked, pulling out a gun from underneath his blazer.

"Sure," the crime lord responded casually. "But make sure you take some backup along with you. This guy is tough and I don't want any mistakes. We've already lost enough men. I don't want to lose any more."

"Yes sir," the replied as they saluted their boss. They then made their way out of his room and went to deal with the intruder. Already, Falcone Lombardi could hear the sounds of gunfire and shouts of his men. He was about to retire to his quarters when he felt someone else arrive in Fourside. Ever since he was fifteen, he had discovered that he had been gifted with the psychic power of telepathy. It had helped him immensely in the building of his criminal empire and had also helped him weed out and kill undercover police officers, informants, and FBI agents. Now, he felt the presence of three other psychics entering Fourside and he began to be concerned. There was something different about these new arrivals, even for psychics. These psychics were powerful. He had heard about how two psychics and a nerdy scientist had taken down Geldegarde Monotoli and returned power to Enrich Flavor. He did not need to have his criminal empire come crashing down because of some psychics. For a second, he wondered if these new arrivals had the ones who took down Monotoli among their number. He then shook off the thought. He would worry about the new arrivals later. His police force could deal with them for the time being. He rose from his work desk and pushed open the door to his bedroom. Inside were three women who looked to be barely in their twenties, if that, wearing nothing but blue halter tops that were cut off above the belly button and blue micro skirts. They grinned sensuously as he entered, and he returned the grin as he shut the door behind him.

The bus carrying Ness, Paula, and Poo arrived in Fourside at approximately eleven o'clock in the morning. None of the three psychics had slept during the ride. Instead, they went over the plans for the day. They knew that Falcone Lombardi was in the former Monotoli Building and that he had the time drive that they needed to install on the Phase Distorter in order for it to work. None of them realized, yet, that Falcone Lombardi had already detected their arrival, or at least the arrival of three psychics. Even so, they would not have been concerned. They were quite confident in their ability to get what they needed.

A chime sounded and a voice could be heard over the loudspeaker. "We have now arrived in Fourside. We will be stopping at the bus station shortly. Those of you who wish to get off here, enjoy your stay, but do stay away from the former Monotoli, now Lombardi, Building. There have been rumors of people who go near that building disappearing without a trace so be on your guard should you find yourself near the Lombardi Building."

The warning that sounded over the loudspeaker seemed to startle and even frighten some of the occupants of the bus. Murmurs began to sound onboard the bus and soon, it became a steady chatter. Paula did not bother to scan the people who were talking, though. The Monotoli Building was their destination and no warning would deter them from reaching their goal. The trio disembarked from the bus, along with a few other passengers. The others seemed to avoid going the direction of the Monotoli Building as if it were made out of radioactive materials. Ness and his friends, however, were making a beeline straight for the building, since it was only a few blocks away from the bus station and was visible to the teens.

As the three rode, or in Poo's case, ran, towards the building, they got curious glances from the citizens of Fourside as they got closer to the building. When they were only a couple of blocks away from the building, a man in a police uniform approached them, with his gun in his hand, but not leveled at the kids yet, and stood in front of them.

"You are approaching a restricted area," he told them sternly and in an unfriendly tone. "Leave now or you will be placed under arrest."

"On what charges?" Ness asked almost angrily in response, shocked and annoyed at the officer's cavalier attitude.

"Trespassing," the cop responded, "and for being an inconvenience to me." The cop then laughed harshly.

Paula then focused her gaze on the officer and she scanned his mind. She did not like scanning the mind of an unwilling recipient, but she felt as if she needed to know who the officer was and why he was acting like this. More importantly, she wondered if the officer was under some sort of mind control. Sadly, the officer was not under any form of mind control and was acting of his own free will. Not only that, but he was in the employ of Falcone Lombardi. She turned to Ness and told him quietly, "He's on the take."

Ness and Poo immediately knew what that meant. The two of them grinned. It meant that if the police officer started a fight against them, they did not have to hold back against the corrupt police officer. The officer soon noticed Paula and focused his gaze on her, leering. "She's pretty," he commented. "I think she would be a good 'Companion', if you know what I…" but he never got the chance to finish, for Poo instantly appeared in front of him and shoved his fist into the man's abdomen and sent him flying backwards through the air. The police officer flew over twenty yards and landed, rolling and shredding his skin on the pavement. The officer came to a stop in the middle of the road.

The trio then proceeded towards the building, all of the onlookers parting like the red sea before the trio. While they were walking, Paula was in the middle of an argument with Poo over how he had handled the incident.

"I didn't need your help to deal with him," she complained.

"He dishonored you by his speech and leering," Poo responded calmly yet sternly. "People like that disgust me." The rage shown in his eyes was barely contained.

What the teens did not notice was that in the middle of the road, the officer had survived Poo's strike, despite having most of his ribcage shattered. He rose and attempted to draw his weapon and level it at the departing teens, staggering forward. He was about to fire when a truck horn blared and the screeching of brakes could be heard. The corrupt cop was then struck by the oncoming truck, which could not slow down fast enough, shattering the unbroken parts of his body upon impact. The teens heard the blaring of the horn and the screeching of the brakes, but they did not see the corrupt cop's demise at the hands of the oncoming truck. They then continued on their way towards the building.

In a corridor, near an open window on the forty-seventh floor of the Lombardi Building, Falcone Lombardi grinned at the broken and battered form of Teddy, who was being held by two of Lombardi's personal guards. "Ha, not so tough now are you?" Lombardi gloated.

That only prompted a weak laugh from Teddy as he raised his head slowly to look Lombardi in the eyes. "It sure took you enough men," Teddy quipped in reply, looking at a monitor that showed several dead bodies lying on the floor of the lobby of Lombardi's building.

That did not go over well with Falcone Lombardi, who struck Teddy on the side of the head. "You killed or injured at least twenty of my best cops and guards. My own personal assistant District Attorney was among the casualties!"

"Too bad," Teddy mocked. That only prompted Lombardi to hit him harder.

"You don't get it, do you," Lombardi taunted. "It didn't matter what you did here. There are always going to be people like me. Even if I go to jail or die, one of my lieutenants will simply take over, and he may be even worse than me."

That only prompted Teddy to laugh weakly. "Then you'd better be careful."

This statement seemed to confuse Lombardi for a moment. "What do you mean?" he asked harshly, gripping Teddy by his hair.

"What if one of those lieutenants decides to take over a little early?" was Teddy's only response.

"Grrr. Arrrgh!" was Lombardi's only response as he grabbed Teddy by the throat and with a heave, tossed him out the window, letting him plummet to his death.

"Well, that's one minor annoyance disposed of," he said nonchalantly.

He then walked away from the window with a smile on his face. His high spirits were about to take a hit, though, as one of his men came flying through the door. "Mr. Lombardi, sir. We've seen three teens makin' their way towards the building. What should we do?"

"Sound the alert and get the guards to their posts!" Lombardi responded, deeply annoyed at the incompetence of his underlings.

"Yes sir," the lackey replied as he retreated through the door and made the preparations to resist the coming of the psychic teens.

Not too far away from the building, Ness, Paula, and Poo made their way towards the Lombardi Building. None of the bystanders or police officers that were outside dared to bar their way after seeing how Poo had dispatched that one corrupt officer. Paula performed some cursory scans on the police and bystanders in order to identify those who were loyal to Falcone Lombardi and those who were honest. Surprisingly, she found that most of the police officers and bystanders outside were honest and good people, but she could already sense the stench of evil inside the building. She knew that no one inside was good or if there were any good people, the fact that they were surrounded by evil shrouded them from Paula's senses. She then felt another presence come from inside the building. This one was not evil like the others. Instead, she felt a goodness emanating from this presence. She also sensed the presence exiting the building and coming down on them from above, and approaching fast. The trio looked up and found a man in his late twenties to early thirties falling towards the ground. The trio only had a few seconds to save him before he hit the ground. If he hit the ground, even PSI Healing Omega might not be sufficient to revive the man if his brain was badly enough damaged due to the fall. That meant that they had to keep him from dying at all costs.

Ness stepped up and focused on the falling man. He then extended his telekinetic senses and slowed his descent rapidly. He could not stop him from hitting the ground, but he managed to slow the fall enough that it did not kill the man. Not only that, but he kept the man from hitting his head as well. The man hit the ground and the three could hear the bones of the man's feet and ankles cracking and breaking as he it the ground. The man did his best to stifle a scream, which he had managed to stifle into a small shout and groan. It was not long after that a katana landed besides man, its blade missing the man's head by inches. Ness immediately stepped forward and used Lifeup on the man. Instantly, Ness could hear the bones of the man's feet and ankles knit and repair themselves. In less than a second, the man was healed and was as good as new. He looked over to Ness and noticed the others approaching. He stood and gripped the katana. With a single pull, he pulled the blade from the sidewalk. Gazing intently at Ness, he thanked him saying, "Thank you, whoever you are. I am in your debt for that. Without you, I'd be dead."

"You're welcome," Ness replied awkwardly. He noticed that the man was focusing on him intently, as if he seemed to recognize the boy.

"I'm sorry for asking, but could you tell me your name?" the man requested. "You look just like a younger friend of mine and I wonder if you're somehow related to him.

"My name is Ness," the teen answered. "Who are you?"

"Teddy," the man replied. "And no, I guess I don't know you." Teddy then paused for a moment before asking, "You don't happen to know a man named Ninten do you?"

Ness shook his head.

"Who's Ninten," Paula asked.

Teddy turned to face Paula and his eyes went wide in shock again. Again, it seemed as if he recognized Paula from somewhere. "He's a friend of mine who directed me on the straight and narrow. I owe him a lot. And you look like a younger version of Ana, another friend of mine, and Ninten's wife. Are you related to her?"

"No," Paula replied.

"Oh, okay," Teddy replied. Paula figured that her resemblance to this Ana had to be uncanny for Teddy to still be distracted by it. Teddy then focused on Poo. It seemed as if Poo did not resemble anyone that Teddy knew, for he looked at Poo pretty normally for someone who had met a stranger.

"And finally, may I ask your name?" Teddy inquired of Poo, extending his hand in friendship.

Poo took it and replied, "My name is Poo."

Teddy winced at hearing the name spoken. "My condolences," he said quietly. Poo's mannerisms indicated that he was not thrilled with the name either, but that he was hiding something else about it. Teddy wondered what could be a worse name than "Poo".

"So anyway," Ness began, changing the subject now that they were properly introduced, "what were you doing in the Lombardi Building anyway?"

"There have been a string of kidnappings in Fourside," Teddy explained. "Most of the victims are preteen children to early teens. I was originally coming here to perform a gig at the Topolla Theater, which ends tonight, but when I heard what was going on, I decided to investigate. My investigation led me to the crime lord Falcone Lombardi being the one behind the kidnappings. From what I heard, he's having his people groom them into being all sorts of things from companions, i.e. high class prostitutes, to advisors, to hit men, to even future attorneys and other things. He's practically brainwashing them to be his next generation of underlings. Of course, this will only come to pass if their parents don't pay the exorbitant ransom which will likely cause them to go broke even if they do."

This got Poo's blood boiling and he gritted his teeth. Paula and Ness's expressions also turned dark as Teddy continued, "I went to try to rescue the kids, and managed to get some of them out, killing some of the guards in the process, but I was overpowered. Most of the police in Fourside are already on the take, and some say that the kids were, in fact, kidnapped by corrupt cops. I know that I didn't manage to get all of them out. Now that he knows that I'm here, he'll have beefed up security."

"That won't be a problem," Ness replied in a cold hard voice. This surprised Teddy.

"Are you saying that you'll help me get the rest of the kids out?"

"Sure," Paula answered cheerfully. "Mr. Lombardi already has something we need anyway. Taking a slight detour to save some kids won't inconvenience us at all."

"Thanks," Teddy said.

Ness then approached and asked a series of questions of the older man. "So, Teddy, when you got in there, did you find out where the kids are? What kinds of defenses does he have? Is there anything special about Falcone Lombardi that we need to know about?"

Teddy answered, "The kids are on the forty-seventh floor of the building in a room a ways away from the elevator. As for the defenses, he has most of the corrupted police force with him and can call in reinforcements at a moment's notice. As for Falcone himself, there has always been a rumor that he always knows when there's an honest undercover cop in his organization or when the legitimate police are targeting his empire and his holdings. Given my familiarity with psychics, real psychics, not the fakes you hear about on TV, I would guess that he's probably at least either precognitive or telepathic, possibly both and much, much more."

His answer did not seem to startle the teens, which seemed to take Teddy by surprise. While he had suspected that the teens he was currently talking to were psychic, or at least one of them to be psychic, his experience had taught him that psychics, while powerful, were not exactly army-destroying monsters. Even though his own friends, Ninten and Ana, had gotten much stronger in the last dozen or so years since they had faced off against Giegue, they were not threats to entire armies. Enough troops could put them down easily enough, albeit with pretty heavy losses. Who were these kids who acted like they could just waltz into the building and rescue the kids and also get whatever they were looking for regardless of whom they fought?

"Thanks," Ness said as he and the others made their way towards the building. Teddy tagged not very far behind, wondering just what these teens were capable of that they could storm the building without a care in the world. Ness noticed that Teddy was lagging behind and he called back to him, "Hurry up. My shield will only extend so far and we'll need it once we enter the building."

Teddy then quickened his pace and caught up with the rest of the group. He was still trying to figure out the children when they made their move.

The inside lobby of the Lombardi building was bustling with activity as ten security officers, dressed in what appeared to be police uniforms, stood behind various sofas and even the counter to the right of the entrance. They each had a clear line of fire to the door. The leader of the guards, who appeared to be a captain and was armed with an AK-47 called out to the rest of his squadron. "Okay men, we know that the enemy is coming. When they come in, open fire. With any luck, we'll hit 'em before they know we're here."

The others gave up a cheer and there was even some laughter and murmuring. "Man, just wait until those stupid fools get here. Boy will they be in for a surprise."

On the forty-eighth floor, Falcone Lombardi extended his telepathic senses to scan the area. He sensed the three kids coming, along with Teddy, the annoyance that he thought that he had killed a few minutes ago. He chuckled. "So Teddy's still alive. And he brought some backup," he noted.

"Don't underestimate Teddy's so-called backup," a mysterious and inhuman voice echoed behind him.

Lombardi turned around and there he saw his highest-ranking servant and liaison to his mysterious benefactors, an orange Mook that had eye stalks similar to the Lesser Mooks and Mook Seniors. The Mook grinned at the crime lord. Falcone Lombardi did not return the grin. "So, what do you know about these kids?" he asked in a gravelly voice that sounded as if he was ordering the Mook to tell him what he wanted to know.

The Mook smiled again and responded in a suspiciously calm voice, "These kids are of great interest to my former master. I have come here to purchase a certain piece of my former master's technology; that panel that you were trying to get to work. It is actually part of a much greater machine that we cannot let the teens manage to reconstruct, but one that I will need in order to take down my former master. Don't worry too much about it right now, Mister Lombardi. Our relationship only began a few days ago. Let's not have it end prematurely."

"Then tell me about those kids!" Lombardi commanded, grabbing the tentacled creature and trying to shake him.

The Mook took it all in stride. "They're psychics, and they're very powerful," he told the crime lord. "Don't take them lightly, or you'll end up dead."

The crime lord scoffed at the warning, releasing the grip on the Mook. "You really think that they'll be able to get this far and threaten us. Don't forget that I, too, am psychic. With you backing me up, we can take on anybody!"

Falcone Lombardi the made his way to his position and pulled out a gun. The Mook merely laughed quietly and muttered under his breath, "You stupid fool. If my former master is worried about the psychic potential of these kids, then what chance do you have against them?"

Back downstairs, the lobby doors suddenly burst open and four figures could be seen standing at the entrance. The guards and corrupt police officers immediately opened fire on the figures, bullets issuing from the barrels of their guns, the muzzle flashes adding even more illumination to the already lit lobby. Each of the guards grinned as they targeted the intruders, expecting them to be riddled with holes amid the hail of gunfire. Much to their shock and horror, though, their bullets stopped short of their targets. They impacted a barrier that flared into existence a few feet in front of the four figures, who were now clearly identified as three teenagers, and an adult whom they recognized as being Teddy. What was worse, though, was the fact that the shield was a reflector shield and the bullets that had been stopped by the shield were instantly sent rocketing back to their sources of origin. Instead of the children and Teddy being riddled with bullet holes, the guards were the ones who were shot instead, the armor-piercing rounds managing to tear through the Kevlar vests of the corrupt officers and guards, and into their bodies. In less then five seconds, over half the guards were dead, and the rest of them were either dying or severely injured.

One of the injured was the Captain of the Guard on the lobby floor. He was shocked and horrified at how easily his forces had been defeated. What made it worse was the fact that the enemy had not fired a single round. Instead, the enemy had them do the work for them. Still, he believed that there was still a chance. If he could roll a grenade underneath the shield, he might be able to kill the kids and Teddy as well. He weakly pulled out the grenade and put his fingers to the pin. He pulled the pin with all of his might, just barely managing to pull it. He then softly rolled the grenade towards the heroes. It was a few yards away when the rolling abruptly stopped. He noticed the younger teen boy's eyes glowing, his gaze focused on the grenade. The grenade then rocketed into the air and towards him. The last thing he did before being shredded by shrapnel was to swear at the child. The grenade then detonated, shredding the captain. Ness and the others casually walked by the scene and towards the elevator. When he arrived at the elevator, he pushed the button to call the elevator down to the lobby. They waited for a few moments until the elevator arrived and the door opened. Immediately two guards appeared and opened fire on Ness and the others, their bullets bouncing off the still active shield that had been erected over the teens and Teddy. The bullets were reflected back at the gunmen and the two guards quickly fell to the floor. The teens and Teddy then boarded the elevator and, after removing the bodies from the lift, pushed the button for the forty-seventh floor. The doors then closed and the four made their way up to the forty-seventh floor of the building.

In his private apartment, Falcone Lombardi was already looking over the initial reports and the images that were fed to his computer screen. On it, all he saw were the dead bodies of his guards and police officers that he had bribed into serving him. He had barely managed to catch the boarding of the elevator by Teddy and his friends. The odd thing, to him, was that the youngest of the boys seemed to be the leader of the team. He gritted his teeth. These children were a lot more dangerous than he had initially believed. The orange Mook slid in behind him and looked over the crime lord's shoulder at the image of the lobby.

"Now do you understand?" the Mook asked snidely. "These psychics are way out of your league."

"And you're able to defeat them?" Lombardi retorted sarcastically.

"With your help, yes."

That answer gave Falcone Lombardi no comfort. He quickly rose from his desk and went over to a panel on the sidewall. He pushed a button and a panel slid back revealing a wall full of advanced weaponry and items. He got out a strange looking helmet and a rifle that looked like a B-grade science fiction movie gun. On the bottom of the gun's barrel was a grenade launcher. He returned to the Mook and said, "All the same, I'll be goin' into this fight with some extra insurance."

"Suit yourself," the Mook shrugged, raising two of his tentacles. "If you think that Counter PSI Helmet and energy rifle with grenade launcher are going to work, you're wrong," he added under his breath. "Those psychics are too strong for that cheap knockoff."

Lombardi did not seem to hear the Mook's mutterings, though. He simply went out into the living room of his apartment and waited for the psychic children to arrive. He knew that this day would define him and his career. Either he would live through this and likely be secure in his power base in Fourside until the day he decided to retire, or he would die and his criminal empire would die with him. He looked back at the Mook, who still had that smug grin pasted onto his face. If there was one thing that he was certain of, it was this: he did not trust that alien as far as he could throw the moon.

The elevator doors opened when the lift had reached the forty-seventh floor of the Lombardi Building. Before the doors opened, though, Poo added another layer to the Shield Omega, just in case they were walking into an ambush. Sure enough, just as soon as the doors opened, the teens and Teddy were met by a hail of gunfire. The sprays of bullets bounced off of the team's shield harmlessly as Ness stepped forward to deal with the dozen or so guards in the elevator lobby. He sent out a massive wave of telekinetic energy and sent the guards flying through the air and into the wall. There the guards fell to the floor unconscious. Ness and the others then made their way towards the next elevator. It was here that they decided to talk over their plan.

"Okay, here's the plan," Ness began. "Paula and I will go up to take on Falcone Lombardi while you two," indicating Poo and Teddy, "will search this floor and rescue those kids. Hopefully, our attack on Mr. Lombardi will divert the remaining guards and corrupt cops away from you and you two can get those kids out of here safely."

"What about you?" Teddy asked, concerned about Ness and Paula facing Falcone Lombardi alone.

"We'll be fine," Paula said confidently. "We've handled worse."

With that, Ness and Paula went over to call the elevator to the forty-eighth floor while Poo and Teddy made their way through the door on their left. After entering the door the two found themselves in a hallway with two doors on the right wall. Four guards in suits stood by the doors, two by each door, standing guard, however, it seemed as if their duty was not just to keep people out, but to keep whoever was in those rooms inside.

Upon seeing the two intruders, the guards abandoned their posts and drew their guns to try to open fire on Teddy and Poo. Before they could act, though, Poo extended his right hand, lightning crackling between his fingers. He then unleashed the lightning blast upon the four guards. The bolts of lightning struck the guards and electricity arced along their bodies as they fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead. Teddy recoiled at the fact that Poo was able to use PSI Thunder, and at a level that was even greater than what Ana had demonstrated more than a decade ago. And Teddy had the feeling that Poo was not using the attack at its full power. Poo did not stop to see whether the men he had felled were dead or alive, he merely went over the nearest door and, after raising a Shield Sigma in order to override the Shield Omega's reflective effects, in case they entered combat where there were a large number of innocents, opened it.

Inside the room were several corrupt police officers and guards standing over a dozen children whose ages ranged from eight to sixteen sitting at their desks, which lined the floor, which was covered in a gold carpet. Most of the children were boys, with only a couple of girls in the party. Many of them had bruises and cuts on their faces and arms. The children gasped at the sight of the teen and Teddy. The looks on their faces was one of fear, but also hope. The corrupt officers stood in front of the children and drew their guns.

"Leave now, Teddy, and we might let you live," they warned, grinning and snickering, not realizing that it was not Teddy who was the main threat, but Poo. Poo noticed the injuries that the children had suffered.

"What have you monsters done to these kids?" he asked in a cold, hard voice.

"What business is it of yours?" one of the corrupt police officers replied.

"The police are supposed to protect and serve the people, not kidnap their children and abuse them," Teddy snapped back.

"We're not really abusing them," one of the cops mocked. "We're only reeducating them to become servants of Falcone Lombardi. Those who disobey are punished. Now leave, before we show them what they'll be doing when they complete their training. Heh, heh, heh."

Poo's glare met the cop's eyes. "No," was his only response.

"Your funeral," the cop shrugged. "Ventilate them," he commanded the others.

The others immediately opened fire on Poo and Teddy. The hail of gunfire that was leveled at the two heroes was stopped by the shield that had been erected over them. The attacks were so weak that they did not even cause the shield to flare. After the first volley of gunfire was completed, the guards stood in shock at the fact that the two intruders were not only still standing, but had no marks on them whatsoever. Poo then raised his hands and unleashed a stream of lightning at the guards, carefully guiding his PSI Thunder attack at the guards, so as not to harm any of the children. The lightning struck the guards and they were immediately either rendered unconscious or killed. The guards fell to the floor, lightning arcing over their bodies, and remained still.

The children stared at the scene, their mouths agape at the sight. They did not know whether to be thankful for the arrival of the two strangers or to be terrified. It was then that Teddy stepped forward to check on the conditions of each of the children. He turned back to Poo and said, "I can handle the situation here. There are more kids in the next room, most, if not all of them, are girls. They're being trained, read forced, to become companions or servants of other sorts."

"Don't worry, I'll save them," Poo said in a quiet, cold voice. Despite the quiet of his voice, his barely contained rage was quite evident. After raising a Shield Omega over Teddy and the kids, Poo promptly left the room and headed back out into the hallway while Teddy led the kids under his care out into the hallway as well. He took the gun from one of the fallen guards outside and proceeded to make his way back to the elevator room while Poo went down to the second door in the hallway. He added another layer to his shield, making sure that it was not a counter since he did not want to risk any of the children's lives in the next room, and approached the door. He turned the knob and proceeded to enter.

Inside the room, Poo saw over a dozen girls huddled into a corner. Most of them were not even ten years old, with the oldest of them being no older than Ness or Paula. Surrounding the girls were six guards, four men and, surprisingly to Poo, two women. The men were dressed in military style clothing, which likely meant that they were wearing body armor, while the women were wearing casual clothing. All of them were armed with automatic weapons, though. Poo quickly checked on the conditions of the girls. Most of them showed signs of physical abuse. Poo's anger began rise again. Still, he did not let his rage cloud his judgment. He simply stepped forward and said calmly, "If you release those girls immediately, I won't kill you."

The guards scoffed at Poo's offer. One of the guards took a six year-old girl hostage and pointed his gun at her head. "Make one move and this girl dies!" the guard cried. He did not wait to see if Poo moved, though. He pushed the gun to the girl's head and he pulled the trigger. As soon as he pulled the trigger, though, Poo appeared right next to him, as if he had just teleported. The gust of wind he felt, and heard, though, indicated that Poo had moved from the entrance to the guard, pushed the gun away and instead of shooting the girl in the head, Poo had directed the gun towards one of the other guards. The unfortunate guard was hit in the head. The guard's head snapped back with the strike and he promptly fell to the ground, dead. Poo grabbed the man by the neck with one hand and twisted. The crack of bones indicating that the guard's neck was now broken. He then grabbed the gun out of the now dead guard's hand and, while simultaneously raising a Shield Sigma over the children, his control ensuring that the shield would not protect any of the guards present, targeted the other guards and trainers. He then opened fire on them. The rounds struck the guards, but did not manage to penetrate their bodies, since they were wearing bulletproof vests, and likely had some sort of trauma plates inside as well. This did not phase Poo, though, as he merely raised his hands as lightning crackled around his fingertips. He unleashed several furious bolts of lightning at the remaining guards and trainers. Each of the lightning bolts found their mark and burned sizeable holes into the guards and trainers' chests, electricity arcing across their bodies as they fell. In less than ten seconds, Poo had ended the fight without a single child being hurt, and all of the guards and trainers having been neutralized.

Poo then approached the girls, but they all backed away from him, not knowing whether or not he was an even greater monster than the guards that had been keeping them captive for the past couple of days due to how easily he had dispatched the guards. Poo stopped and knelt down on one knee and opened his hands towards them. "Don't worry," he said in a kind and gentle voice, trying to calm them down. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"But…you…killed these guards, and th…th…they were so strong," one of the younger girls stammered. The others were also barely able to speak.

"They won't hurt you anymore," Poo consoled them. Despite his best efforts, his voice was still sounded tough and menacing to the children. "Come on, let's get you back to your families." With that, he quickly took a headcount, so as to make sure that he did not lose anyone during the escape, ushered them out into the hallway. They followed him closely as he led them out of the building. Along the way to the elevator, he saw several extra fallen guards. It seemed as if Teddy had run into some trouble when he was leading his group of children to freedom. As he approached the elevator door, it opened and four guards emerged, immediately spraying fire in Poo's general direction. The bullets of the enemy guards splashed harmlessly against his shield, as well as the shield of the children he was escorting out of the building. He merely raised one of his hands and extended it out in front of him. Immediately, a massive stream of lightning erupted from his hands and struck the four guards. The guards were immediately reduced to ashen skeletons by the power of the lightning attack. Poo then approached the elevator, but saw that it was too small to hold all of the children. Poo, seeing that the elevator would not be able hold them all, decided to take the stairwell, which was next to the elevator. He herded the kids into the stairwell and promptly led them down to the lobby.

Along the way, he found the bodies of more guards. Apparently, they had the misfortune of trying to bar Teddy's way. The trek down the stairs was long and grueling, at least for the kids. Poo had to stop a couple of times to give them a chance to rest. He also always had his psychic senses on in order to be able to sense anyone coming after them, or anyone who was going up to meet them. Fortunately, it seemed as if Teddy had dealt with the guards that were inside the building, those who were not in the unenviable position of having to deal with Ness and Paula. After the rest stops, they continued on their way until they reached the lobby. Poo went out first in order to use his psychic senses to see if there were any hostiles in the area. All he sensed were the kids and Teddy. The coast was clear and the kids stepped out into the lobby. After stepping out into the lobby, the kids rushed towards the door and left the building, Poo bringing up the rear. Outside, they rushed over to Teddy and the others. Poo then went over to Teddy as well, who had already contacted the honest local police force, who was now informing the parents of the children of their rescue. Then, the two of them waited, protecting the children until the proper authorities arrived.

During the rescue of the kidnapped children, Ness and Paula rode the elevator to the forty-eighth floor of the Lombardi Building. The elevator soon arrived at its destination, since it was only one floor up, and opened its doors. Immediately, Ness and Paula were met by a horde of security officers in police uniforms. These officers were armed with standard police side arms, which were no match for the shield that Ness had erected over himself and Paula. Ness simply extended his right hand and a blast of telekinetic energy issued forth, sending the unfortunate guards flying. Paula did not have to emerge from Ness's cover, since her services were not needed in this skirmish. The guards crashed into he wall and promptly fell to the floor, where they lay either unconscious or dead.

Ness and Paula then emerged from the elevator and examined the room. There was a sofa to the right, but Paula indicated that there was no one hiding behind it. With the room cleared of enemies, the two psychics casually walked towards the door. Before opening it, Paula approached the door and extended her psychic senses beyond the door. She sensed two guards in the room. She managed to glean that they were armed with AK-47 automatic rifles, which she telepathically relayed to Ness. Ness then opened the door and entered first, in case they managed to get a shot off. Fortunately, though, Ness was much faster on the draw and he managed to telekinetically send the guards flying into the wall at the end of the hall. Their impact with the wall left a large indent on the wall, and they quickly fell to the ground, their threat neutralized. Ness soon examined the hallway and found that, besides the bathrooms, there were four other doors to choose from. Ness turned to Paula. "Which way?" he asked.

Paula's eyes glowed again and after a second, she said, "Either door at the far end of the hall will takes us on the correct path. There are four underlings in the room as well. These are higher-ranking members of Lombardi's empire, but are no better armed than the guards we've been fighting."

"Good."

Ness then went to the nearest of the far doors. He pulled open the door and proceeded to enter. The room had four desks in a square-like pattern, each with one man working at them. When Ness and Paula entered the room, they immediately rose from their chairs, a couple of them knocking over their chairs in the process, and pulled out their guns in order to open fire on the teens. This time, however, it was Paula who dealt with them. She stepped forward and stared at them, her eyes glowing a bright blue. Before they could fire a single bullet, they simply froze, no longer under their own control. Paula did not like using direct mind control, so she let them retain their ability to think, but there was nothing they could do to act, since the signals from their brain that told their hands to pull the triggers of their guns were not reaching their arms. Paula then sent her own signal that ordered them to put down their weapons. The bodies of each of the guards complied, albeit in a jerky fashion. Paula then implanted a sleep command in their brains that would render them unconscious for the next twelve hours. The guards then promptly fell asleep, their "threat" neutralized.

Ness then turned to Paula, but before he could ask, she said, "Right door."

That was all the answer that he needed. He then proceeded to make his way through the right door, with Paula right on his heels. They entered the next room and there were two more underlings working at their desks. These mob enforcers, however, would not even have a chance to fight since before they could even rise, Paula used her telepathic abilities to put them into a deep sleep, one from which they would not awaken for at least twelve hours. They promptly plopped their own heads down onto the computer screens, which were now typing various letters over and over again. This would likely continue until they awakened. Paula smiled sweetly at the inconvenience that they would likely suffer, assuming that they were not arrested beforehand.

Next, Paula extended her telepathic senses once again. After a second, she called over to Ness, who was standing by the fallen guards, "Straight ahead."

Ness nodded and the two of them proceeded into the next room. This room was completely unoccupied. There was, however, a camera in the corner of the room. Paula quickly noticed the camera and fired a weak blast of PSI Thunder at the camera, frying its circuits and shattering the camera. She still felt, though, that Mr. Lombardi had seen them before she managed to fry the camera. Ness looked around the room and saw two doors on their right. He was now beginning to remember the layout of the building from his previous visit. He quickly approached the closest door on the right and opened it. With that, the two proceeded to make their way though the door.

Indeed, Falcone Lombardi had managed to get a glimpse of the two psychics that were coming for the panel, and to take him down, before Paula had fired that lightning bolt at his camera. Lombardi cursed as he received further reports that the kidnapped children were being rescued by Teddy and that third teenager, who also seemed to be psychic. He cursed again in rage as he heard the report that all of the kidnapped children had been rescued and that the honest police officers that were serving under Enrich Flavor were coming to help the children and take them back to his parents. In less than a day, his legacy was being destroyed piece by piece and his hold over the city was failing. Not only that, but the other two psychics were wading through his personal guards as if they were not even there. Even if he somehow managed to survive the fight against them, he would never escape without being caught by the police.

"It seems as if your criminal empire has gone to hell," the orange Mook said smoothly, looking over Lombardi's shoulder. "Perhaps you should just surrender to the kids now."

The way that the Mook was talking really got Falcone Lombardi's blood boiling. "I will never surrender!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He then turned and launched a telepathic attack on the Mook. The Mook, however, was also a psychic, himself, and while he was not able to telepathically attack anyone, he could defend himself against telepathic attacks easily enough. And Mr. Lombardi's telepathic attack was quite weak as telepathic attacks went. He casually knocked aside the attack and fired a weak blast of PSI Thunder at the crime lord. The bolt of lightning struck the crime lord and caused him intense pain, as he cried out and fell to the ground, lightning arcing across his body.

"If you wish to maintain your current quality of life, I recommend that you _never_ do that again," the Mook said coolly, almost as if it were mere a suggestion.

The crime lord got the point, though, and he relented. "Now, as for fighting the kids, I recommend that we prepare ourselves," the alien suggested. "There's no way that your remaining defenses are going to be a challenge for them."

The crime lord nodded and he went over to pick up his energy rifle. He subsequently turned off the computer, which was now only spewing cries for help as police officers arrested Lombardi's men in other parts of the city, and reports of the rescue of the children that had been kidnapped. Now, he was really alone. All that stood between him and the two psychic children were four remaining bodyguards and a Sentry Robot. Lombardi knew that they would not last long. He could only hope that they would be enough to weaken the two kids so that he and the Greater Mook could finish them off. Heck, if they could get a first strike, they might even be able to thin the ranks of their enemy with their first attack.

Ness and Paula entered the next room and found that it, too, was empty. This room did not even seem to have any cameras. Still, the two psychics were careful. They did not want to be caught off guard. However, with nothing standing in their way, they made their way forward. They quickly entered the next room.

In the next room, there were four guards armed with AK-47s, wearing body armor with trauma plates, and also flanking a Sentry Robot. The gray robot looked like a toy with a square body and a base that had wheels. The base also had a series of flashing lights. Its head was shaped like an oval with a large red eye in the center. Its left arm seemed to be made of some pliable metal and it seemed to have a hand on the end of it. It's right arm, however, was a cannon. The room, however, had no cover for either party to hide behind, which gave Ness and Paula the advantage since Ness had already erected a Shield Omega over himself and Paula. The guards and Sentry Robot opened fire on the teens. The bullets and Bottle Rockets that the enemies fired splashed harmlessly against the shield and were instantly redirected back to their original sources. The guards were riddled with bullet holes, despite their body armor since the bullets were armor-piercing rounds. The guards collapsed onto the floor, either dead or dying. Meanwhile, the robot was struck by its own Bottle Rocket. The Bottle Rocket, however, only did minimal damage to the robot. The same could not be said about Paula's PSI Thunder attack that she unleashed against the robot before it could fire another Bottle Rocket at the teens. The lightning bored a hole into the chest of the Sentry Robot and it overloaded the robot's circuits. It did not help that the circuit overload caused the Bottle Rocket that the robot's cannon was about to fire to explode, blowing off the cannon and a good portion of the robot's right side to boot. The remains of the robot then simply smoked as the children walked past the destroyed robot and pushed open the door to Falcone Lombardi's apartment, and the confrontation with the crime lord.

The interior of the crime lord's apartment was lavishly furnished with sofas and a big screen television. Not only that, but there were armchairs and loveseats as well. It was almost like a condominium apartment. Even the kitchen was visible to look at. The living room area was covered with a lavish and plush purple carpet and the walls were painted sky blue with various cloud patterns. Pictures of Falcone Lombardi hung on the wall as well. Ness was about to take a couple of forward when Paula gripped his shoulder. She shook her head and held up two fingers. Ness took that to mean that there were two people here. Her eyes also flashed a bright blue for a brief instant, twice. That was the sign that the two enemies in this apartment were both psychics.

As if on cue, the crime lord stepped out into the living room along with his companion, the Greater Mook, though the two psychics did not know what exact type of Mook he was. The Mook grinned at the sight of the two psychics. Mr. Lombardi merely held up his energy rifle and pointed it at the two psychic teens. For an instant, Paula felt as if something was trying to interfere with her concentration and her ability to use her psychic powers. She quickly got over it and alerted Ness to the situation. "Be on guard Ness," she told him. "That helmet he's wearing is some sort of Counter PSI Unit."

"Yeah, I felt it," Ness told her. He, too, had felt momentarily distracted, but like Paula he too was able to overcome the sensation. He was now set and ready to go.

"So what will you do now?" the Mook crooned towards his partner. "They've overcome your trump card before the fight even started."

"Shut yer trap!" Lombardi snapped back. "Let's see them overcome this!"

He then took aim at the two teens with his energy rifle. Both Ness and Paula noted the barrel that looked to be a grenade launcher beneath the primary barrel of the rifle. Ness immediately raised a shield over himself and Paula, but it was Paula who stepped out in front of Ness. She remembered from their last adventure that Mooks had the inconvenient ability to diamondize their foes with a single glare. The crime lord was the first to attack with his grenade launcher. He targeted the two kids and fired a single grenade at them. The grenade impacted the shield, which flared into existence for a brief second, before being reflected back at the crime lord. The Greater Mook fled from the crime lord as the grenade struck his chest and exploded, reducing the crime lord to a fine mist in a fraction of a second. The Mook, however, did not waste this opportunity, though. Since the crime lord had taken the grenade hit, before Paula could launch an attack of her own, his eyes began to glow as if backlit and the focused his gaze on the psychic girl. Paula entire body was immediately transmuted into a diamond statue resembling her physical form. The Greater Mook gave off a grunt of discontent. His intended target had been Ness. The girl had taken the hit for him, but there was another reason as to why she was so willing to do so. Ness knew PSI Healing, and only its Gamma level was required in order to cure diamondization. Ness immediately used PSI Healing Gamma on Paula and she was immediately cured. Her motionless diamond form once again transformed back to a human being made of flesh, blood, and bone. Paula, not wanting to get diamondized again, immediately retaliated by readying a ball of PSI Fire in her hand. The Greater Mook, realizing that he was about to get toasted, tried to get Paula to stop. "Wait, don't do it," he pleaded. "I'll pay you anything to let me live. Please, don't kill me. I need you to defeat my former master, Giygas!" His cries were getting frantic.

His mentioning of being a former servant of Giygas, however, got Paula to stop for a second and power down her attack. "What do you mean by _former_ master?" she asked with suspicion.

The Mook calmed down. "We had a mutual falling out," he explained. "I wanted to be given a greater rank in the army. However, since I'm a Greater Mook, this is as high as I can go in my class, the Mook class. Any higher and I'd be in the Starman class. The Starmen are the elite grunts of Giegue's army. They're as high as you get if you're not a PSI Lord. I saw that I had powers that could defeat a normal Starman, and even a Starman Super one-on-one so I wanted to get a higher rank. Giygas, Giegue's second-in-command and the commander of the Earth invasion, disagreed and banished me. I must admit that I was lucky to not have been killed, but what can I say? I'm lucky like that. Oh, one more thing," the Mook added. "I have always wondered what I'd get for killing two of the Chosen Four. I wonder if Giygas would listen to my position then?"

With that, the alien tried to focus his gaze on Paula again as his eyes glowed again. This time, though, Paula and Ness left his field of vision and all that the Mook managed to diamondize was the wall behind Ness and Paula's previous locations. Paula immediately retaliated by launching a ball of PSI Fire Omega towards the Greater Mook. The Greater Mook tried to evade the attack, but merely ended up jumping headfirst into a massive swing of Ness's Legendary Bat. The bat came down on the Mook's head, right in between his eyestalks and on top of his third eye. The force of the swing fractured the alien's skull and forced him back into the path of Paula's ball of PSI Fire Omega. The ball of PSI Fire Omega impacted with the alien and immediately exploded in a massive eruption of psychic fire. The body was engulfed in flames, but the Mook was already either unconscious or dead when the PSI Fire hit so he merely lay on the floor as the psychic flames consumed his body and reduced him to ashes within minutes.

Once the brief skirmish was over, the two teens went through the now unoccupied apartment in search of the panel that contained the time drive. They first checked the study of the crime lord and it was the last place they checked as well, for they had managed to find exactly what they were looking for. The gray panel was found mounted up on the wall. Ness went up to the panel and tore it down off the wall. All he could do now was hope that it was not too badly damaged.

Meanwhile, Paula was over at the main computer, shutting it down and unplugging it from the wall. Ness noticed Paula taking care to get the computer and asked, "Why are you taking the computer? I doubt that it has any PSI Alien technology or information on it."

"I'm taking it so the rest of Falcone Lombardi's empire can be taken down by the honest police. In a cursory glance I saw dozens of names on it. I wouldn't be surprised if his entire network was on this computer."

"Good, then let's take this too," Ness said, eager to hand this over to the proper authorities. When the two psychics had everything they needed, they backtracked their way out of the now former Lombardi Building and went outside where they found Teddy and Poo, as well as the rescued children being surrounded by their parents, legal guardians, and police. The two rushed over to Teddy and Poo. Ness also noticed that Enrich Flavor, the original mayor of Fourside, was talking with the two. Ness and Paula rushed over to them and introduced themselves. Paula then presented the computer to the mayor and said, "This computer has information on the criminal empire of Falcone Lombardi. I think it may even be the mother load."

Enrich Flavor was an older man in his early sixties. He had gray hair and was wearing a business suit. He was surprisingly fit for a man of his age, though. He looked accepted the computer and then asked, "So, is Falcone Lombardi still holed up in his apartment?"

Ness and Paula blushed. Paula then shook her head. Ness, however, was quite eager to answer. "Actually, mister mayor, he's been utterly smeared across the living room of his apartment."

The mayor of Fourside gave a wry smile. "So he met his match, did he?"

Ness and Paula nodded. Enrich Flavor then smiled. "Well, I guess we've got everything we need in order to put away the rest of his organization, those that are still alive, for a long time," he commented. He glanced over to the police commissioner, who was already sending in honest police officers into the building to clear it of any remaining cronies of Falcone Lombardi's. "Well, I guess we can take it from here," he told them. "Again, I can't thank you enough. All of you." The last bit was also directed at Poo and Teddy, in addition to Ness and Paula. "Thanks to you, these kids were rescued from being reduced to slaves or worse. Now, they can try to put the horrors of this criminal underworld behind them. For your efforts in the takedown of Falcone Lombardi, you'll get a reward of ten thousand dollars each." He smiled at the three teens and at Teddy, handing each of them a check for ten thousand dollars. "This is the least I can do, and in all honesty, you deserve a lot more. If you ever need anything from me, just give me a call. I'll do whatever I can to help if you're in a tight spot."

The teens did not know what to make of Enrich Flavor's gift. Paula did not need her telepathy to know that they were dealing with a very unique politician in Enrich Flavor, an honest one. "I don't know what to say," Ness began. "Thank you."

"You have done more than enough," the mayor responded. Before they left the sight of the others to teleport back to Saturn Valley, Enrich Flavor called after them, "I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done, not only for this city, but also for me personally. I have not forgotten what you did three years ago. If there is anything I can do to help you find your friend, tell me. I'll do whatever I can to help."

The teens then waved back. Teddy went over to the teens before they departed and handed them each a ticket. "This is a ticket for the Traveling Live Show that I'm performing in the Topolla Theater. This afternoon's show the last encore before I head back to Ellay. The show begins at three o'clock."

The teens accepted the tickets and thanked Teddy. Ness doubted he would be able to see the show since he was busy trying to find Jeff. But he would go to the show as a courtesy if he had the chance to do so. After Teddy went back over to the mayor and the police commissioner, the teens then ducked into an alley. When they were certain that no one was able to see them, they teleported out of Fourside and back to Saturn Valley, leaving Teddy to help the police deal with the remnants of Falcone Lombardi's criminal empire.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Ness, Paula, and Poo reappeared back in Saturn Valley just outside of Apple Kid's laboratory. Outside the lab, they saw that Apple Kid had already gotten to work repairing the Phase Distorter. In fact, its new shell, which resembled a Mr. Saturn, had already been completed. Hannah and a couple Mr. Saturns working on the hull, making the final touches to the machine. When she noticed that the three teens were back, she stopped her work and came over to them.

"So, were you successful?" she asked.

Ness held out the panel that was the time drive. "Yes, we were," he replied.

"Excellent," they heard Apple Kid exclaim as he emerged from his lab in a pristine lab coat, which was unusual for him. He then rushed over to the teens, eagerly awaiting the time drive. Ness handed him the time drive and he went over to the Phase Distorter to begin his work. "Now I can get to work on installing the time drive. That leaves us with only one more thing to get before this thing can work."

"What else do we need?" Paula asked, hoping that it was not something that would be too difficult to find or retrieve.

"A fuel source," Apple Kid answered. "The Phase Distorter runs on Zexonyte. As you already know, Zexonyte is not found on Earth. Instead, it comes from the stars. As for how to get it, I have good news and bad news."

"Start with the good," said Ness.

"The good news is that I was able to find some Zexonyte on Earth."

This lifted the spirits of Paula and Poo, but Ness still had a bad feeling. "And the bad?"

Apple Kid paused and then gave them the bad news. "It's on Mount Itoi."

The three psychics were not pleased. "You mean the mountain where the PSI Aliens have their base of operations?" Paula asked warily.

"Yeah, the same," Apple Kid said in a dark tone. "I wish I had some better news for you, but that's it. Looks like you'll have to go to the heart of the alien force to find what you need in order to get to Jeff."

"We can handle it," Ness proclaimed.

"Possibly," Poo admitted, "but it's going to be difficult." He then went over to Apple Kid and asked, "So, Apple Kid, do you know where this Mount Itoi is?"

"Yeah," Apple Kid replied. "It's just east of a city called Ellay."

Paula recognized the name. She then quickly remembered that Teddy had mentioned the city's name before. "Hey, isn't Ellay where Teddy's going after performing at the Topolla Theater tonight?"

"Yeah, you're right, it is!" Ness replied excitedly. He then smiled. Hope had returned to the party. Assuming they could hitch a ride with Teddy, they would quickly manage to gain passage to Ellay, and then to Mount Itoi.

"Looks like we'll be returning to Fourside after all," Paula commented. She was actually happy to do so. She had wanted to have a chance to rest and relax and listening to Teddy's show at the Topolla Theater would be an excellent way to relax from the recent trials the party had undergone. Hannah then went over to the teens, her face red from blushing. "Hey, while you're over watchin' Teddy's show, I…was wondering if you could, well, you know…get his autograph for me?"

Ness smiled. "Sure, we'll get his autograph for you," he assured the girl.

Hannah then proceeded to lavish thanks and praise on Ness. After a while, she eventually let him go and she returned to work. Hannah's face beamed with excitement as she went back to work on the Phase Distorter. Apple Kid smiled as Hannah went back to work. He then turned back to them and said, "Be careful guys. Mount Itoi is a very dangerous place. It won't be easy to get the Zexonyte since it's located at the top of the mountain."

"We understand," Ness replied, nodding. "We can handle it."

"I hope so," Apple Kid said. "If you three are lost, I fear what would happen to the Earth." The tone in Apple Kid's voice indicating that he knew what the result of a PSI Alien invasion would be. "Be aware of your surroundings on that mountain."

"We will be," Paula assured him.

Before Ness and the others could leave, though, Hannah rushed over to them and called, "Hey, one more thing. If you got any reward money for taking down Mr. Lombardi, there's a bank over in a hut over there," Hannah pointed to a small metallic cabin in the shape of a Mr. Saturn. "You can deposit your checks and cash there. Any other money that you may happen to make along the way due to a job can also be deposited into an account created at the Saturn Bank."

The three thanked Hannah for her advice and they proceeded to make their way to the bank. When they arrived, they entered the bank. The inside of the bank was quite gray, but there were several computers present, as well as some ATM machines. Behind the counter was a single Mr. Saturn. "Welcome to Saturn Bank and Trust. _Zoing_." the Mr. Saturn proclaimed in a high-pitched voice. "How may I be of service? _Boing_."

Ness and the others went over and Ness replied, "We'd like to open an account so we can deposit our money."

The others agreed and asked for the same thing. The Mr. Saturn moved from the counter to a computer to his rear. After typing in some information on the keyboard, something that confounded the teens since Mr. Saturns did not have any arms or hands, the Mr. Saturn returned with what looked to be a data pad. "Just type your names on the space and input a four number pin number. _Zing_."

The teens did so, each taking their own turn with Ness going first, then Paula, and finally, Poo. Once they were finished, the Mr. Saturn input the information into the main computer for the bank. Once he was finished with that, he got three new ATM cards for the teens. He went back over to them and handed each of them their ATM card. Once the teens had received their cards, they thanked the Mr. Saturn and proceeded to leave the bank. "Thank you for using Saturn Bank and Trust. _Ding_," the Mr. Saturn called as the group left the bank.

Outside the bank, Ness and the others took a few steps away from the bank and stood still, holding each other's hands. Then, after a second, they disappeared with a clap as air rushed into the void that was left by the teleportation of the teens.

Meanwhile, over in Doctor Andonuts's lab in Winters, the Starman Super was hard at work checking on the records of Jeff Andonuts. The Starman sat in front of a computer screen that showed the records of Jeff Andonuts. Not surprisingly, there was little information about him beyond the essentials: his date of birth and the names of his parents. There was no information on his grandparents to speak of, much like with Ness and Paula, and nothing farther back than two generations. The Starman Super now almost wished that Dalaam had not been spared from destruction. Still, he doubted that it would have made much of a difference. Poo's records were likely to be just like the others', a name, date of birth, parents, and nothing else. After searching through the rest of the records, he rummaged through the various inventions that Doctor Andonuts must have been working on before his disappearance. He found little of worth, though, so he just left the lab as it was. With that, he disappeared and returned to Mount Itoi to report back to Giygas on what he had found.

Ness and the others reappeared back in Fourside in the middle of the city. Ness checked his watch and found that it was only one-thirty. They had plenty of time to go and explore the city before going to the concert. The first thing they did was to go to the Fourside Department Store. Ness and Paula quickly unfolded their bikes and rode over to the store with Poo running along behind them. During their ride, the teens noticed that Fourside seemed to be much more cheerful than it had been during the reign of Falcone Lombardi. People were out on the streets walking without always looking over their shoulder, or keeping one hand inside their jacket, ready at a moment's notice to pull a gun or other weapon should someone try to mug or accost them. Not only that, but people were no longer suspicious of the police officers that were patrolling the street, since the honest police force had rounded up and arrested all of the corrupt police officers that were working for Falcone Lombardi.

The trip to the Department Store only took around twenty minutes. Once the teens had arrived, they folded up their collapsible bikes and proceeded to enter the store. The interior of the lobby was brightly lit. The floor consisted of white tiles. There was a customer service counter to the right of the entrance. A little past the counter was an ATM machine. The teens went over to the ATM machine and took their turns inserting their ATM cards in order to withdraw the necessary amount of cash for them to be able to buy any weapons and equipment that could help them on their quest. Once they were finished, they proceeded up the escalator to the first series of departments in the store.

The first floor consisted of the food and burger departments. These were of no interest to the teens. However, recalling their memories of their previous trip through the department store three years ago, the teens followed Ness to a door at the end of the area. Ness then proceeded to enter the door. On the other side of the door was a storage room that was sparsely lit. Standing among the various boxes was a man in what looked to be military style clothing with a crew cut and sunglasses. Spying the kids, he turned to get a look at them.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

Ness cautiously approached the man and returned the man's question, "Who are you?"

"You first," the man insisted.

Ness, seeing little choice, answered, "I'm Ness." Paula and Poo then offered their first names only to the man.

The man smiled at them. "So, you're the guys that took down the crime lord, aren't you. Well, since it's you guys, I guess I'll show you what I've got."

The man then spread out his merchandise, which consisted of a variety of explosive devices. "I was savin' this stuff to sell to those who were gonna take out Falcone Lombardi. Since he's now out of the way, I've got all this overstock to sell. Check it out and tell me if you need anything."

He then showed them what he had. They had little need for Bottle Rockets or the Hyper Beam, since Jeff was not there, but the Super Bombs looked enticing. Ness and the others knew that they would need a lot of ordnance for the trek up Mount Itoi, especially if it was as tough as Apple Kid thought. Ness bought six Super Bombs since that was all the space his backpack and pockets had for any more items. At four hundred dollars per bomb, it set Ness back twenty-four hundred dollars. Next, Paula made a purchase. She, too, bought six Super Bombs to add to her arsenal, even though she had plenty of ranged attack options with her psychic powers. Finally, Poo rounded out the group by buying himself six Super Bombs, adding more ordnance to his arsenal, even though, like Paula, he had plenty of ranged attack options. His primary thought was that he could help store some more weapons for Ness and Paula for the later stages of their journey up Mount Itoi. Once they were finished purchasing the items, the arms dealer thanked them as they went back out into the main store.

Back out in the main store, the trio went towards the escalator, ignoring the food and burger departments once again, and went up to the second floor. On the second floor, the group found the Tool and Item departments. Ness was full of gear so he just performed a cursory glance over the items in the aisles, but Paula was quite interested in what was inside each of the departments. Ness and Poo shrugged and stood aside while Paula shopped on her own. Paula went over to the Tool department first and took a look at all of the merchandise. Paula saw a beautiful Gold Bracelet that she felt also had the unique ability to increase her durability as well. Why this was, she did not know, she just knew that there was power there. As such, she got the bracelet and headed over to the checkout counter. The man behind the counter saw her coming and asked, "Have you found everything you were looking for?"

Paula nodded politely and gave him both the Gold Bracelet and the Silver Bracelet. She decided trade in the Silver Bracelet and put the store credit towards the price of her Gold Bracelet. She then bought the massively expensive Gold Bracelet and after the purchase, she was down to only fifty-two hundred dollars. She then headed over to the Item department and took a look at the items offered. Not much interested Paula here, though. After she had finished examining the departments, she rejoined Ness and Poo, who had waited patiently for her. She approached them smiling, while Ness merely offered a friendly smile and laugh while Poo made no effort to hide just how bored he was waiting for Paula to finish her shopping. Once the three were together again, they headed up the escalator and to the third floor.

The third and final floor consisted of the Sports and Toy departments. Both Ness and Paula went to take a look through these departments, especially the Toy department. While Ness was drawn to the arcade games, the Nintendo 64s, and the advertisements for the soon to be released GameCubes that were on display, he was still able to pry himself away from the console games and focus on the more important items. Ness managed to find a coin that seemed to have some special energy. Even though he could not normally sense such things, even he knew that there had been something special about the coin in the case. He opened the case and withdrew the coin. He then went over to the checkout counter to so he could pay for the coin. After the cashier scanned the price tag, he stated that it cost two thousand dollars, which caused Ness's eyes to bug out. He could hardly believe that a small coin could cost so much money. He guessed that he was not the only one that knew that the coin had special properties. He decided that the boost in his physical durability was worth the price, so he decided to cough up the two thousand dollars to buy the coin. After he made the purchase, he pocketed the coin, still incredulous at the absurd price of the coin.

Meanwhile, Paula was over in the aisles searching for more items to help her on the journey. She found quickly sensed a power coming from one of the cases. Upon examining the case, she found that the source of the strange power was coming from a ribbon that seemed to have the ability to increase her physical durability. She took the Defense Ribbon from the case, but before she went over the checkout, she spied a Teddy Bear sitting on a case. She was immediately enthralled with the plush Teddy Bear and, thus, added it to her load. She then went over to the checkout counter to pay for her items. She presented her ribbon and Teddy Bear and, after trading in her Red Ribbon, the total price for her items only came to one hundred dollars, leaving her with fifty-one hundred dollars remaining. Once she was finished purchasing her items, she went over to Poo, who had already been joined by Ness. Once they had finished their shopping, the three teens proceeded to leave the Fourside Department Store.

Once they had gotten outside, Ness checked his watch. The time was still only two o'clock. They still had an hour to get to the Topolla Theater. Still, they did not want to cut it too close. They still wanted to talk to Teddy to see if they could hitch a ride to Ellay. After around ten minutes of riding their bikes, the teens arrived at a building with the word "TOPOLLA" in large, neon letters on the roof. A smaller sign had the word "Jazz" below the larger theater name. A screen outside showed that there was still an encore for the performance by the singer of the Live Show, Teddy that was scheduled for three o'clock.

After arriving at the theater, Ness and the others went inside. In the main lobby, they went up to the counter and presented their tickets. The woman at the counter accepted the tickets and tore off the stubs and handed them back to the teens. Before handing them back to the teens, she informed them, "Hey, you guys must be in with Teddy. These tickets double as backstage passes." She took a look at them before realizing who they were. "Hey, aren't you the guys who took care of that vile gangster Falcone Lombardi?"

Ness shrugged and nervously nodded. "Teddy helped a lot, too," he told the woman.

"I knew it," she exclaimed. "Hey, Teddy's still backstage. If you need anything from him, just go and talk to him. I'm sure he'll help you out."

Ness and the others thanked the woman as they headed into the main theater hall. The hall was already full of spectators eagerly waiting for the concert to start. After entering the hall, the group promptly went up onto the stage and proceeded to head around to the back.

Backstage, Teddy was already preparing himself to give the final performance in Fourside before returning to Ellay to give a performance over at the Live House with his friends tomorrow. There were other performers preparing for their acts as well. Venus, an acquaintance of Ness and even Paula, was also present. It appeared as if she was going to be performing as well. When Teddy noticed Ness and his friends backstage, he stopped what he was doing and went over to meet him. "Well, if it isn't the saviors of Fourside," he exclaimed in welcome.

"Don't leave out your part in the battle," Paula replied.

Teddy blushed for a moment before returning his gaze to Ness. "So, what brings you backstage?"

Ness blushed a bit, not wanting to sound inconsiderate, but eventually, he decided to get right down to business. "Well, we came backstage to see if you'd be willing to allow us to ride with you to Ellay. We've got some business near there and it would be much more convenient than just hitching rides on a ton of buses."

"Something near Ellay," Teddy mused for a moment. "You wouldn't mean Mount Itoi, would you?"

"Yes," Ness replied, "why?"

Teddy looked concerned for a moment before replying, "Oh, it's just that there have been reports of hikers and campers on Mount Itoi being attacked. Some of them were killed. I lost my parents to the monsters on Mount Itoi more than a decade ago." He then smiled. "But I guess you won't have to worry too much since you're pretty powerful, there," he said in a lighter tone.

Ness and the others gave a moment of silence for Teddy's parents. "I'm sorry about what happened to your parents," Paula offered. She did not mention the fact that she and her friends were facing the very possibility of losing their whole families as well. She did not feel that this was the time to mention it,

"Thanks," Teddy replied. "It's been a long time since they were attacked, though. I feel more for the survivors and families who lost loved ones on Mount Itoi. I've even heard that there have been strange being spotted there once again…Starmen and such."

Ness and the others exchanged knowing glances. They knew beyond a shadow of a doubt now that Mount Itoi was the heart of the enemy. Their glances did not go unnoticed by Teddy, but he did not dwell on it. He figured that they had good reason not to discuss their plans. Teddy then considered Ness's request. He figured that his bus had room for a few more passengers. After a moment, he answered, "Okay, but there's something I'd like you to do first."

"What is it?" Ness and Paula asked. Poo was conspicuously silent, shifting his focus onto the ceiling.

"I'd like at least one of you to come out on stage with me to sing."

This surprised Ness and Paula, and also made Ness a little uncomfortable, especially since he did not like singing at all. Teddy noticed Ness's discomfort and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Well, it's just that, I don't really like singing," Ness stammered in reply.

"Oh," Teddy said, his eyes showing his surprise.

"It's more than just that," Paula added, coming over to Teddy. "Ness had a bad experience with a song recently on one of our adventures."

"Oh," Teddy said, feeling like he had a better understanding of what was going on. "So, then how would you like to come out and sing?"

Paula blushed before managing to stammer in reply, "Well, you see, I'm not a very good singer, so I'd just drag you down."

"Nonsense," Teddy replied, offering support for Paula. "I've heard your speaking voice and it is already beautiful. It's actually a lot like my friend Ana's, and she's already a tremendous singer." This only served to make Paula that much more uncomfortable. She was trying to diplomatically get out of having to tell Teddy that she was not that fond of singing either. While she did not have Ness's undying hatred of it, she was still not comfortable singing, either, and only partly because of Ness's dislike for it. Teddy took one look at Poo and realized that there was nothing he could do to convince Poo to join him on stage. It seemed as if Poo was off in his own little world. Turning back to Paula, he asked, "So, would you at least be willing to dance? We could use another backup dancer and you definitely are pretty enough to get the part. Don't worry, all of the dancing here is family-friendly." Teddy could sense that Paula would not perform any dance that she deemed as risqué.

Paula's expression brightened. "Okay," she agreed. "Is there anything I have to do? Are there any moves that I'll have to study?"

"Not really," Teddy answered. "All you really do is move to the music, here. It's mainly just snapping your fingers and clapping and stuff like that."

"I see. Will I get a special dress or do I come as I am?"

"If you have a dress, great," Teddy told her. "Just make sure that it's decent. This is a G-rated performance."

"Don't worry about that," Paula assured him. She would not wear anything inappropriate.

Teddy smiled. He then offered her directions to the dressing room. Ness beamed at Paula as she went into one of the dressing rooms to prepare for the performance. He was very eager to see Paula dance on stage and could not wait for the performance to start. Teddy then went back to finishing up his preparations for his show, and for adding in Paula as one of the dancers. Ness then turned to get Poo so they could go into the audience and get some good seats for the performance. When he saw his friend, he noticed that Poo was staring intently at the ceiling. He could not tell that something had caught Poo's attention. He went over to the older teen and asked, "What's is it?"

Ness's voice jostled Poo out of his reverie and he turned to the younger teen. "Someone else was here. But I think they're gone, now."

"Any idea who it was?" Ness asked.

Poo shook his head. "No. But whoever it was, was powerful. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Giygas."

This troubled Ness. "What would Giygas be doing here, I wonder?"

"Probably trying to ascertain our plans. I'm almost certain that he knows we have an almost working Phase Distorter and that the only source for fuel for the machine is the Zexonyte on Mount Itoi. He probably wants to know when we'll be there."

Ness shivered. He already knew that the trek up Mount Itoi would be difficult. He did not need it to be any harder by having Giygas know that they were coming and being able to plan accordingly. "At least we know that Giygas suspects our plans," Ness offered.

"Let's just hope it's enough for us to be able to not get overwhelmed on Mount Itoi," Poo said warily. Ness nodded in agreement. The last thing they wanted was to get beaten so far away from any help.

Back on the peak of Mount Itoi, near the landing site of a large alien starship, Giygas appeared on a spire that stood on top of his personal flagship. As he appeared on the top of the spire, he was smiling. Soon, hovering near him was Starman Deluxe Alpha.

"I take it that everything went well, Master?"

Giygas smiled. "Yes, everything went well," he responded. "I managed to glean their plans. It appears as if they will ride to Ellay with Teddy. Given that the performance is scheduled to end around five o'clock, and let's be generous and give them an extra hour to prepare to leave, I would say that they arrive in Ellay at around oh, say, between eleven o'clock and twelve o'clock midnight."

"Assuming they _make_ it to Ellay," the Starman Deluxe added in a sadistic tone.

"Why would they not?" Giygas asked, curiously eying his cohort.

Starman Deluxe Alpha backed off a few paces and, had his face been visible, Giygas would have seen his eyes widen and his jaw drop in shock. "What do you mean? This would be the perfect chance for us to strike! They are isolated away from their techie friend, and they won't have the support of Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd. We can take them out easily!"

"No," Giygas snapped. This surprised the Starman even more. Giygas then calmed down and added, "Not yet. I need to know just how many psychics are on Earth before I take down Ness and the others. I know it's risky, but only by letting Ness attack me at Mount Itoi will I be able to ascertain whether or not there are any more powerful psychics that we have to worry about."

The Starman Deluxe could understand Giygas's position. They were on an alien world, cut off from the rest of the fleet. Their forces had already been greatly weakened by Paula Polestar. Alpha understood the risk that Giygas was taking, though, and it troubled him. If, indeed, there were more strong psychics, then Ness and the others would have more help, and facing a unified force could result in the destruction of Giygas and the others. However, if Ness and his friends had no further assistance from anyone, then it would let them know that the Earth had no more powerful psychics, save for Ness, Paula, Poo, Ninten, and Ana, and they could all be taken down with one swift stroke. Then it would just be a waiting game until the fleet arrived. And in the meantime, they would just pick off any psychic that rose to try to challenge them. The Starman Deluxe grinned. Giygas did have a point. Now, all they needed to do was to wait for Ness and the others to arrive. And he was very eager to have them approach.

Back in the Topolla Theater in Fourside, Ness and Poo were taking their seats at one of the tables close to the stage. This position gave them a good view of the stage. Ness could hardly control his excitement at the prospect of seeing Paula dance on stage during Teddy's performance. He waited patiently through the other performances, which ranged from instrumental music, which itself ran from classical songs to newer pop music styles, to various dances to rock and roll songs sung by several bands. He paid attention to the instrumental music. One of the selections that had been played reminded him of Onett. He did not pay as much attention to the dances, which he found to be boring for the most part, to not paying any heed to the rock and roll bands, even though many of the younger members of the audience were dancing to the music. He glanced over at Poo several times during the various performances to see what his friend thought of the music. For most of the wait, Poo's eyes were completely closed. Ness suspected that he was meditating. In reality, though, Poo was extending his psychic senses to see if he could sense any alien or unknown psychic presences. He suspected that if it was indeed Giygas that he had sensed earlier, then it was likely that the PSI Aliens already knew their plans. That meant that either Giygas would attack them while they were on the road, or would pull in all of his remaining soldiers and servants around Mount Itoi and set up an impenetrable fortification around the mountain. He was also mentally preparing for the challenges that lie ahead.

Eventually, the announcer came out on stage. "Okay everyone," he proclaimed over the loudspeakers. "This is the moment you've all been waiting for. Presenting the final encore of the Live Show Band, presenting Teddy, here to perform the song, 'The Paradise Line'."

With that, the curtain rolled back and a spotlight shined on Teddy, the band behind him, as well as on the backup singers and on the two dancers, one of which was Paula, who had changed into a long, elegant sleeveless dress that went from her neck to her ankles. Ness stared directly at the beautiful girl as the song began. From the introduction, Ness could tell that it was a rock and roll song, as if Teddy's personality and clothing style did not give it away first. Soon, the song started.

During the song, Ness had been enthralled by Paula's dancing. He paid little heed to the lyrics, merely focusing his gaze on Paula. She was a natural. He knew that she had studied dance in school and took dance class, rather than choir or band, but he never knew that she had been this good. She moved with the fluidity and grace of a professional dancer, even though the moves did not seem to be that difficult. Still, for someone who had only been made a part of the performance an hour ago, Ness felt that she was magnificent. Even Poo admitted such as after the song finished, and the audience had been applauding the performance, he commented, "She's good."

"Yes she is," Ness replied with a sigh, entranced by Paula's beauty. After the song had ended, the performers gave their bows, with Paula and the other backup dancers curtsy for the audience, as did the female backup singers.

After the show, Ness and Poo went back stage to join Paula. She had already changed back into her polo shirt and shorts when they arrived. Ness went up to her and hugged her fiercely. "You were magnificent," he said, his face beaming.

Poo also congratulated Paula on her wonderful performance, though he did so in a way so as to not interrupt Ness. Paula merely blushed and downplayed her role, saying, "Thank you, both of you, but it wasn't that big of a part. All I had to do was dance a few basic moves, snap my fingers and clap at certain points in the song. It was quite easy."

"Yeah, but you did it well, especially for someone who only had an hour or so to practice," Ness countered kindly. "Don't sell yourself short here, Paula, you were great."

"He's right," came Teddy's voice from out of the dressing room. "You were great out there, especially for someone who only had an hour to work on the song. Have you done this before?"

"I danced in middle school and I practice martial arts," Paula said, "but I've never done a dance with only an hour to practice before."

"Well, as said before, you were great," Teddy stated. "You were just as good as the pros out there."

After he accepted the check from the Topolla Theater manager, who had come around back to pay him and the others, he went over to Paula and handed her a check for one hundred dollars. "This is thanks for being willing to go out there and dance."

Paula accepted the check and put it in her pocket. After everything was in order, Ness and the others followed Teddy out of the theater and to a large, black bus that was parked along the side of the road. The resemblance to the bus used by the Runaway Five was uncanny. It looked spacious enough to house the four of them comfortably. Still, Ness wondered if they were sharing it with anyone else. "So, are we all sharing the bus with anyone else?"

Teddy shook his head. "Nope. Except for a few drivers and myself, you're the only other passengers."

With that, Teddy ushered them onto the bus. Indeed, it was much more spacious than they had initially believed it would be. The interior of the bus was nothing special. There were no paintings or any special patterns painted on the wall. There were some pullout beds for sleeping and some dressers. There were curtains that separated the front end of the bus from the back. At the back end of the bus, there was also a bathroom as well as some more beds.

Ness and the others took little time getting settled in. Ness unslung his collapsible bike and his large bag and plopped them on the ground. Paula did likewise with her bike and purse. Poo merely slid off his backpack and waited until they were ready to go. Before they departed, Teddy came up to them and said, "Just so you know, guys, I'm putting on a show tomorrow at the Live House. My friends Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd will also be performing as well, and they're even better than me. I hope you'll go to see them perform. We'll be singing one of my favorite songs as well."

Ness told him that he would consider it. Whether or not they would be able to get to see Teddy perform again, though, was dependant on several things, not the least of which was whether or not they managed to get what they needed from Mount Itoi. With luck, they would be able get the Zexonyte, hopefully beating Giygas as well, and return to Ellay to see the performance. Either way, the three just decided that it was best to rest and relax for the moment. After a few moments, the bus began to get underway heading for Ellay, a city in the west of the United States of America.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Ness and the others huddled together in the back of the bus while Teddy sat in the forward section with the rest of the band members that were going with him to Ellay. They had been riding in the bus for over an hour and they were expected to make it to Ellay by eleven o'clock or so at night. The three psychics were quietly discussing their plans for going up Mount Itoi once they arrived in Ellay. Ness had managed to get an old map from a glove compartment on the bus. Ness and the others had been studying the map intently while they had been riding.

"According to this map, it appears as if Mount Itoi is just outside of Ellay," Paula noted, pointing to the position of the mountain to the party on the map. Ness and Poo nodded. Poo turned the page and studied the part of the map that followed the trail from the base, all the way to the peak of Mount Itoi.

"This is going to be an awfully long trek," Poo noted. "From what I can see, there are plenty of places where enemies can set up ambushes. Too many to count," he said as he pointed at some some marks on the map. Upon further study of the map, they noted that there was a point that was marked on the map that was close to the peak of the mountain. Ness also recognized the lake that was noted on the map. Suddenly, he realized that he had been here before.

"Hey guys, this is where George built his lab and his robots for rescuing Maria," Ness told them energetically. "I wouldn't be surprised if George left some stuff around in his lab."

"Assuming Giygas hasn't already plundered it," Poo added quietly.

"I'm not sure that Giygas would know about the lab," Ness told the older teen. "If he had, I think that we would have seen his soldiers using more advanced weapons. So far, we've only been fighting aliens robots with what I believe to be their standard weapons load out, none of the more advanced gear that they're likely to be packing."

"Ness has a point," Paula agreed. "So far, all of the robots have only been using their so-called psychic attacks like PSI Beam, their staff weapons, etcetera. They have not been seen carrying guns, bombs, or bazookas of any kind yet. I'm beginning to wonder if he even has them, or if he does, if he has them in significant quantities."

"We still shouldn't assume that Giygas's army is not well equipped," Poo warned, almost glaring at the younger psychics. "Giygas almost certainly knows that with two psychics that can erect team-sized counter shields that using such weapons would be stupid beyond belief."

The others could not argue with Poo's reasoning. They both nodded. That brought up the real question. "So what's the plan for our trek up the mountain?" Paula asked the others.

Ness and Poo glanced at each other, and then back down at the map. Paula also studied the map once more before repeating her question. "Any ideas?"

Eventually, Poo gave a response. "My best bet would be for us to equip ourselves with as many health items and weapons as possible before beginning our journey. We know what the enemy army consists of. We'll face Starmen, Mooks, and robots, and likely Giygas as well. The Starmen and Mooks have psychic powers, as do the robots, but the robots' psychic powers can kill us with one hit if they score on us. We should just plan on trekking through the army and fighting our way through since there's no shortcut to the top. We'll just have to watch for places where the enemy can ambush us."

The others considered the other alternatives, hoping to find a way to get up the mountain quickly and still be able to avoid a large number of enemies. Still, after studying the map again, they could see no better alternative. Giygas had planned his base of operations to be virtually impossible to infiltrate or attack from the ground. Any attempt to scale the mountain without using the trail left them wide open to a surprise attack from any number of foes. The others soon agreed with Poo. Ness then finished the discussion saying, "Okay everyone. We should get some rest before we arrive in Ellay."

The three psychics then rested in the back of the bus, wanting to conserve their energy for the trek that they were going on once they arrived in Ellay.

On the peak of Mount Itoi, the Starman Super was making his report back to Giygas on what he found out about Ness and his friends. "During my quest to find out more about Ness and his friends, I have found several strange patterns. Each of the four have parents who have known pasts, birthdates, dates of marriage, maiden names for mothers, etcetera. When I found the names of their grandparents, though, I found that the names were forgeries, for both sets of grandparents. It seems as if the records for the parents of the so-called Chosen Four were constructed hastily. They only have the most basic of essentials; just enough to satisfy someone who would only perform a cursory scan into the histories of these children. They give just enough information to satisfy them on the surface, but if one digs deeper than the surface, they'll find that things just don't add up. And this is the same for all three kids we have records on, Ness, Paula, and Jeff. Poo was from Dalaam, which is currently destroyed, and the records of Poo have been lost. There's something strange about these kids."

"This is good enough for me," Giygas responded. "And your research only adds more support to my hypothesis."

"Which is?"

"I'd rather not discuss it yet," Giygas replied as he walked over to the edge of the peak to check on his ship. "There's still one more test that I have to perform. Hopefully, I'll be able to complete it shortly."

The Starman Super followed his master. "And what will this test be?" he asked, glancing over at Giygas.

"A battle between myself and Ninten and his friends, followed by a fight with Ness and his friends."

This answer surprised the Starman Super. "Are you sure that's wise, Master? Ninten and Ana have only gotten stronger in the last decade and more. And we already know that Ness and his friends are already quite powerful. The Dalaamese prince was a close match for Saiyg. Given her arrogance, she may well have been beaten had the two of them fought in an all out battle. Not only that, but the psychic girl, Paula was actually able to kill Saiyg. A lucky hit might be able to take you down as well, Master."

Giygas scoffed at the thought. "No," he said. "They won't beat me the way Saiyg was beaten. They're strong, but not _that_ strong. They still have a ways to go before they reach my level."

The Starman Super did not like his master's seeming arrogance. "Remember what Saiyg thought before she was killed by the human girl. Don't underestimate them Master," he warned.

"I haven't," Giygas responded casually. "I merely know my capacity, and have seen enough of my enemy to know theirs. When I fight Ness and the others, I will win. The problem will come should they manage to survive and get to the future to find Jeff. _He_ could be a thorn in my side since his technology is far beyond anything I have seen humanity produce."

The Starman Super agreed with him on that. With the conversation having concluded, the Starman Super asked, "What is my next assignment, Master?"

"I wish for you to remain on Mount Itoi with me. Keep watch over the mountain and inform me when Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and maybe even Teddy come," Giygas commanded. "Also, should you see Ness and his friends, report the sighting to me. You are to answer only to me, no one else. Understood?"

"Understood, Master," the Starman Super responded, bowing before the PSI Alien commander. He then proceeded to disappear once more, and reappeared somewhere on the lower part of the mountain.

The bus carrying Ness, Paula, Poo, Teddy, and his band arrived in Ellay at around midnight. After the bus came to a stop at the Live House, the party disembarked. The town was dark except for the streetlights that illuminated the road and for the lights of a few buildings, including the Live House, which had a large neon sign above the entrance. Before Ness and the others left Teddy and his band, Teddy went over to them one more time. He pulled three tickets out of his pocket and handed one to each of the teens. "My band and I are performing with Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd tomorrow," he then checked the time, "or is that later today, technically," he added playfully. Ness and Paula smiled, with Paula even giving a light laugh at Teddy's joke. Poo, however, still had a stoic and serious expression pasted onto his face. He accepted his ticket graciously, though, giving a polite bow.

"The show starts tomorrow at eleven o'clock in the morning," Teddy informed them. "You still wouldn't be interested in giving a performance of your own, would you?" Teddy asked, hoping that they would be willing to perform.

"Sorry, no," Ness and Paula replied, shaking their heads. "We'll still try to make the show tomorrow," Paula added. This caused Poo to take Paula aside for a moment. Ness went over with them for a moment, while Teddy waited until they were finished their discussion.

"What was that about?" Poo asked Paula in a quiet bur forceful tone. "Have you forgotten why we're even here to begin with? We don't have time to go to this concert, even if it is in the morning." His voice demonstrated his concern that they were going off track.

"No," Paula replied with equal force. "I was just being courteous. Besides, we're going to be sleeping late anyway since it's already past midnight. We can take an extra hour or two out of our busy schedule to attend a friend's performance. Besides, it's in the morning, so we won't be wasting a lot of time anyway."

"But we only met Teddy earlier today," Poo countered. "And if you haven't forgotten, we need to get the Zexonyte in order to power the Phase Distorter. Don't forget about the Mook that was working with Falcone Lombardi. I don't believe what he said about going against his former master for a second. That means that Giygas likely knows that we're repairing the Phase Distorter. It won't take him long to put two and two together and pay Saturn Valley a visit."

"Don't worry, Poo," Paula assured him. "We'll be able to get the Zexonyte and get off of Mount Itoi soon enough for us to get it back to Saturn Valley, and even come back to attend the concert."

"Assuming we can get up there in time," Ness said, adding his own two cents. "Besides, I don't feel comfortable going up Mount Itoi without a full load out of weapons and other support items. And all of the stores are closed right now. I suggest we wait until tomorrow to begin the journey anyway. After all, Giygas already knows that we're coming. He'll likely have all of his defenses planned out already. We have to go in there ready for whole lot of fight, because it's going to be us versus all of them."

Paula and Poo looked over at the teenage boy as he had stated his thoughts on the matter. Poo and Paula glanced towards each other and nodded, both agreeing with Ness. But that still left the problem of their own argument over whether or not to go to the Live House for the performance. Eventually, Ness decided to add his own two cents about that as well, "As for the performance, let's just see how things go tomorrow."

Paula and Poo could agree to that. Still, Paula was concerned. She then decided to tell the two of them why she really wanted to see Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd perform. "There's one other reason why I'm interested in seeing Teddy's friends perform," she admitted.

"What is it?" Ness and Poo asked.

"During the last concert, Teddy compared myself and Ness to two of his friends, Ana and Ninten. That made me wonder who those two were. Since we were compared to them and Teddy knew that we were psychic, it made me wonder if Ninten and/or Ana were psychics." Paula then paused for a moment before continuing, "That's not all. It also got me wonder that, if they are psychics, could they be related to a woman named Maria?"

"Who's Maria," Poo asked.

"A woman I helped rescue from Giygas in the year nineteen eighteen," Ness volunteered. "She was a powerful psychic who learned a lot about her power from the PSI Aliens. Her husband, George, also had psychic powers and stole forbidden psychic knowledge from the PSI Aliens when he escaped the first time. After we encountered Giygas in Twoson, he mentioned how humans like us defeated him with a song."

"Exactly," Paula exclaimed. "We have to go see this Ninten and Ana to see if they could very well be the psychics that fought against Giygas over a decade ago. If they are, they might be able to help us against him should, or should I say _when_ it comes to a battle between us and Giygas. At the very least, they'll be able to give us a heads up on what he's capable of."

Poo had to admit that Paula's reasoning made sense. They would need all the help that they could get in a fight against Giygas. Even if Ninten and Ana did not participate in the fight directly, their knowledge on Giygas's capabilities would be invaluable. "Okay," Poo finally said, acquiescing to Paula's wishes. "We will go to see the concert tomorrow, if it's okay with you, Ness," he added, turning to Ness for his opinion.

"I've got no problem with that," Ness shrugged.

"Then it's agreed," Paula exclaimed quickly. Ness and Poo nodded. They had made their decision.

Teddy, meanwhile, had stood a ways away from them, letting the trio have their own private conversation. When they were finished, he approached them again and gave another smile. He then informed them, "There's a hotel just down the street from here. You can likely still get a room there if you want to. It doesn't cost too much to stay, either, and you get a complimentary breakfast on the side."

Ness and the others thanked Teddy as he and his band went inside the Live House. Before Teddy had made it to the door, though, Ness suddenly remembered Hannah's request for an autograph from Teddy. He rushed back over to Teddy and asked, "Hey Teddy, before you go, I was wondering if you could sign an autograph for a friend of mine."

Teddy turned back to Ness and replied, "Sure, who do I make it out to?" He drew out a pen and a notepad from his pocket.

"Hannah," Ness replied. "She's a big fan of yours, but she is working over the summer so she won't have an opportunity to go to any of your concerts for a while."

Teddy then signed the paper and handed it back to Ness. Ness thanked Teddy and Teddy replied, "You're welcome. Tell Hannah that I'll be in Twoson in a few weeks so if she lives near there, she can see me perform."

"I'll tell her," Ness assured him. Teddy then proceeded to make his way inside the Live House. Ness then rejoined his friends as they departed from the Live House.

With the autograph for Hannah taken care of, the three psychic teens proceeded to make their way towards the Ellay Hotel. As Teddy had said, the hotel was not very far away from the Live House. It only took a few minutes for the psychic trio to ride to the hotel. Once they arrived at the hotel, they folded up their bikes and made their way inside.

The lobby of the hotel was not very extravagant. There was a counter facing towards the door, as well as an elevator to the right of the entrance. Ness promptly went up the information counter, followed by Paula and Poo. The receptionist, a pretty woman with brown hair in her early thirties welcomed them, saying, "Welcome to the Ellay hotel. Is there something I can do for you?"

Ness replied, "Hello, and yes there is. We'd like a room for three, but it's spur of the moment and we have no reservations."

"Hold on, I'll check to see what we have open." The woman then typed something on the keyboard to her computer and waited for the relevant information to show up. After a few moments, she smiled and focused back on Ness and the others.

"Ah, you're in luck. We have a two-bedroom suite available. It's room five-oh-one. Here's the key." She then handed them a card key. "That will be one hundred and seventy dollars per person for the night," she said a little too cheerfully.

Paula gasped at the price. Even Poo's eyes went a little wide. That was even more expensive than the hotels in Summers three years ago. And Ellay did not seem to be a huge tourist destination. Ness, however, did not seem to be too surprised at the price. Or if he was, he was not showing it. Ness and the others then handed over the price to the woman and she let them go on their way, Paula grumbling about the price all the way to the elevator. The three then boarded the elevator and took it to the fifth floor.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, they disembarked from the elevator and walked down the hall until they came upon room five-oh-one. Ness took out the card key and stuck it in the slot. The red light on the door turned green and he pushed the door open. The interior of the hotel room looked to be quite luxurious. There was a sofa bed in the center of the living room pointed straight at a big screen television. Not only that, but there were several armchairs as well. These looked to be high-end armchairs as well. Paula then wondered if her grumbling had been a little premature. Still, even if it was, she wondered if the hostess had not intentionally given them a luxurious room on purpose since it was more expensive. She did not care right now, though. None of them did. All they did was quickly look the place over and get to the bedrooms. Once they found the bedrooms, they quickly placed their bags on the floor. They quickly examined the bedrooms and divided the bedrooms between the three of them with Ness and Paula getting the room with the two twin beds, while Poo got the room with the king bed.

After the rooms were chosen, the three of them wasted no time washing up for bed, and changing into their pajamas. After they had finished, they said their prayers, and then got into their beds and promptly went to sleep. They needed to be fresh for their journey tomorrow.

Back on Mount Itoi, Giygas stood on top of his flagship, looking down at the mountain. He listened to the sounds of the night. He could make out every individual cricket chirp, bear growl, and bush rustle on the mountain. He could also sense the primitive minds of each and every one of the animals on the mountain, as well as the minds of his servants. He had not had this eclectic a group of allies before. In this group, he had the usual assortment of Starmen, Mooks, robots, mind-controlled animals, etcetera. But in addition to those normal enemies, he also had an assortment of other aliens that he had brought along with him that had not been encountered by Ness and the others before. This time, he had brought along several elves and faeries, aliens that looked like fairies from various human mythologies, and who had also appeared on Earth before. Faeries were, like elves, powerful magicians as well as stronger than normal human soldiers in physical combat. Unlike the elves, though, they had translucent wings that allowed them to fly. Giygas looked over his combatants with satisfaction. If nothing else, they would be enough for the human psychics to use up a good portion of their psychic energy against. He then focused back on the town of Ellay. He was eager to go into the town and get a good look at Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd when they performed at the Live House tomorrow. Despite the power of Ness and his friends, Ninten and his friends still had the two potential weapons that might affect him, Ninten's relationship to Maria, and the song that Maria had taught him. Giygas grinned at the proposition of fighting Ninten again, though. He felt confident this time that he would be able to resist the song and its effects. This time, he would do it. This time, he would kill Ninten and his friends, and then he would go on to deal with Ness as well.

That morning, at around eight o'clock in the morning, Ness and his friends awoke in their hotel suite. After each of them said his or her morning prayers, the trio left their bedrooms and were met with a complimentary breakfast on the table in the dining area. The breakfast consisted of a selection of eggs, pancakes, toast, cereal, ham, sausage, and bacon with a milk, apple, orange, and tomato juices for drinks. The three ate to their heart's content. Once they were finished breakfast, they put the dishes in the dishwasher.

After breakfast, they then proceeded to shower and get dressed. Once the teens were dressed, they checked the clock. It was already nine-thirty. They then proceeded to leave the hotel, leaving their card key with the receptionist. Once outside, they decided on what their course of action would be since they still had some time to explore before the concert began at the Live House. They decided that it would be a good time to explore the city so that they would know the lay of the land. During their exploration, they came upon the Ellay Department Store. They decided that it would be worth looking into after the concert, and hopefully after their meeting with Teddy's friends Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd. Aside from the Ellay Department Store, though, they found little of interest until they came across a man wearing a blue jacket, pants, and hood. Paula could already sense that something was wrong about this guy.

"Hey there, kids," the unknown man called over to them. His voice sounded quite young, as if he were only a teenager. "Are you guys new to Ellay?"

Ness nodded cautiously.

"You should be careful around here," the youth warned. "There is a gang that roams the streets of Ellay called the Bla Bla Gang. They were really big ten years ago, but their leader, Teddy, left and made a life for himself. Ever since then, he's been trying to reform the other members of the gang. He's met with some success, but others don't want to leave the life of the gang just yet." The last bit seemed to indicate that the youth that the teens were talking to was, in fact, a member of the gang. "_Is_ there anyplace that I can help you find?"

"No, thank you," Paula politely replied. We're fine."

"Oh, that's too bad, pretty girl," the youth sneered condescendingly. "Because, as it turns out, you're not fine. You've walked in on the Bla Bla Gang's territory. And in order for you to be able to walk in our territory, you've gotta give us your passport and visa."

"Why is that?" Poo asked harshly, showing his utter disdain for the gang member. His response and the force with which he delivered it seemed to surprise the Bla Bla Gang member.

"Because if you don't, I'll beat it out of you, moron!" the Bla Bla Gang member responded. He then proceeded to pull out a club and assumed a menacing pose.

Poo smirked and stepped out in front of Ness and Paula. "I'll give you this one chance," Poo warned the gang member. "Back off now."

The gang member grinned and said, "Kid, you're gonna be sorry you decided to do this the hard way."

The Bla Bla member then proceeded to charge Poo. Unfortunately, for the gang member, due to Poo's finely honed skills and reflexes, augmented by his incredible psychic power, the gang member may well have been standing still compared to him. The gang member tried to bring his club down on Poo's head but Poo merely sidestepped the attack and instantly appeared behind the young gang member. He proceeded to tear the hood off of the gang member and found that rather than a man, he was facing a boy no older than him. The boy had short brown hair and green eyes. His glare could have pierced a person's soul. Poo merely scowled. This would be no challenge at all. He backed away a few steps and offered one final warning. "Leave me and my friends alone and I'll let you walk away."

The gang member merely laughed and charged again. This time, Poo did not give him a chance to use his club. To the gang member's senses, Poo merely vanished and instantly reappeared behind him, gripping his club in a vice-like hold. In reality, Poo used his psychically enhanced speed to run around to the back of the gang member and grab the club. With an effortless pull, Poo yanked the club out of the gang member's hands and threw it away. He then proceeded to launch a side kick into the gang member's chest. The kick sent the unfortunate teen flying through the air. He sailed over a dozen yards away before he landed on the sidewalk. The impact would have severely injured the youth, but Ness cushioned the impact with his telekinesis. The gang member was still slow to stand up, though. Poo and the others merely began to walk away, but the gang member was not finished yet.

"Hey, come back here and face me," he cried out as he drew out a gun and pointed it at Poo and the departing Ness and Paula. Poo and the others stopped and faced him.

"You don't want to do this," Ness warned in a kind tone.

"Why not?" the beaten and bloodied gang member asked condescendingly. He still did not understand the depths of the mismatch that he was fighting.

"Because we have identified your dozen friends that are hiding in the shadows around these buildings," Paula answered for Poo. She had already sensed the gang member's allies since the beginning of the gang member's fight with Poo. "If you fight us, you will lose."

The youth laughed as the other gang members came out of the shadows. Instead of there being a dozen of them, though, Ness and the others counted twenty. "Guess you didn't count all that well," he laughed. "Now, you're either gonna pay us our fee, or you're gonna die. Well, maybe everyone except that pretty little blonde," he said referring to Paula, "Her, we definitely have some uses for. Oh, and she's part of the fee as well."

Ness and Poo's eyes flashed in rage but it was Paula who stepped forward. "We will not pay gang members for the right to explore Ellay," she said calmly and confidently. She also held up her hands, lightning arcing across her fingers. "Turn back now, please," Paula pleaded, not wanting this to turn any more violent than it already had been. The gang members, however, saw this as a sign of weakness.

"Well, you heard the girl," the first gang member shrugged. "Pump the boys full of lead. Leave the girl alive, though. We can have some fun with her later," he laughed.

Before the gang could open fire, though, Paula unleashed a massive volley of PSI Thunder against the gang members. All twenty-one of them were struck with weak, relatively speaking, bolts of lightning. They all cried out when they were hit as lightning arced across their bodies and they fell to the ground, injured and temporarily paralyzed, but still alive. In addition, Paula made certain that her attack would not cause any permanent injury to them.

"You went too easy on them," Poo admonished as the three teens walked by the scene.

"What did you want me to do, kill them?" Paula retorted.

"Not necessarily," Poo responded. "But I don't think that they'll change their ways with just a small scale defeat like that."

Paula smiled and replied, "Perhaps. But maybe they'll think twice about accosting someone else."

Ness, who was careful to not get involved in Paula and Poo's argument, checked his watch and found that their exploration of the city had taken some time and that it was already ten fifteen. They had to get to the Live House to get some good seats for the concert, and possibly a chance to meet Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd. The three then made their way back to the Live House.

Just after they had ridden off, the gang members managed to regain their ability to stand. As they stood, they witnessed a strange figure walking into the city. The Bla Bla gang leader, the one who had accosted Ness and his friends earlier and had his mask torn off in the process, stood up and glared in the direction that Ness and his friends had ridden. "I'll get you, you scum," he called after them.

He was about to go after them when one of his subordinates called over to him, "Hey Chris, we might be able to vent our frustrations on someone else."

Chris, the Bla Bla leader looked over and found a figure walking towards them. This figure seemed to be a mix of a human and a furless cat in appearance. He was bipedal and had milky white skin. Assuming that the figure was not merely a resident of Ellay in disguise, he appeared to be naked, though no genitalia appeared on his figure, though the figure had an obviously masculine look about him. Not learning from their encounter with Ness and his friends, Chris and the Bla Bla Gang stepped in front of the figure. The figure stopped as the twenty gang members stood before him. Giygas smiled to himself. Perhaps he could get something resembling an exercise before going to the Live House to spy on Ninten and his friends, as well as on Ness should Ness show up there.

"Get out of my way," Giygas commanded in a low, confident voice.

"You'll need to give us your passport papers first," Chris responded, pointing his gun at Giygas's head. The rest of the gang followed suit.

"No," the alien responded casually and continued to walk. Chris, furious about being taken so lightly so close to his humiliation at the hands of Poo, opened fire on Giygas. The other gang members joined in and dozens of gunshots rang out. Each bullet impacted a shield that Giygas had always subconsciously erected as a basic defense mechanism and required only the same amount of energy input from him as breathing did. The bullets bounced off of the shield as if they had struck the armor of a tank. Giygas then raised his hands and pointed at each and every one of the gang members. Each time he pointed at a gang member, an emerald green energy blast issued forth and struck the targeted gang member, reducing the gang member to ashes in an instant. He did this twenty-one times, saving Chris for last. Chris had attempted to run away, though, only to be shot in the back. After the massacre was completed, Giygas moved on, muttering, "Pitiful," as he rose into the air and floated over to the Live House.

Over at the Live House, Ness and the others had already entered and presented their tickets to the female receptionist standing in the corner. The tables were arranged in lines and aisles to allow for quick service to the customers. The receptionist accepted their tickets and directed them towards a table in the front row close to the stage. It appeared as if Teddy had informed the receptionist and staff about Ness and his party's arrival. Ness's party took their seats at the table that had been reserved for them. He noticed that the stage was not too high for them to jump on should they be invited. He was beginning to get a little nervous. The last thing he wanted was to be dragged up on stage to perform with Teddy or one of the other groups. While they were waiting, Ness picked at some of the rolls, despite already having had breakfast. This drew a disapproving look from Paula but he did not care. He simply smiled back and continued eating. Poo said nothing, but he did not try to suppress his smile. In his mind, he was already jokingly wondering how long it would be before the two made their marriage vows.

After a while, the lights dimmed and the acts began to file on stage and perform for the crowds. Most of the prelude acts were dances and small bands playing for the crowds. Not long after the preludes were finished, though, the main attraction came on. Onto the stage came four young adults, three men and a woman. Ness, Paula, and Poo were immediately taken by the resemblance that three of the performers had towards what would be an older Ness, Paula, and Jeff to a lesser extent. Ness figured that Ninten was the one that resembled him, while Ana, Ninten's wife, definitely resembled an adult Paula, and Lloyd was the one that bore a small resemblance to Jeff, though his hair seemed to be more white where Jeff's hair was blond. There was also no uniform dress code among the performers. Teddy wore his standard attire that Ness had seen when he had performed in Fourside, while Ninten wore a striped polo shirt that strongly resembled Ness's t-shirt, right down to the color of the stripes on it, yellow and purple. The only real difference was the fact that the yellow stripes were much smaller on Ninten's polo shirt than Ness's stripes on his t-shirt, which were the same size. As for Ana she wore a pink sleeveless dress that had strongly resembled the dress that Paula had worn before her capture. Lloyd was wearing a red polo shirt and black shorts. He also wore glasses, another similarity to Jeff, though his attire was noticeably different.

As they came on stage, they took their positions near four microphone stands. At Ninten's direction, which surprised Ness, the band began to play. After the introduction, Ninten and the others began to perform a series of songs of various genres. As Ness listened, he could tell that the quartet had good singing voices and were quite talented, as they also danced on stage as well. Ness glanced over at Paula from time to time, watching her move to the music and snap her fingers to the music. Poo, however, seemed to not have been able to care less about the performance. The older teen was in deep meditation. Ness believed that he was mentally preparing for the journey ahead. He also had a feeling that Poo was not all that enamored with the type of music. As he was kicking back to relax, listening to the performance, he took a glance back and saw a flash of light from the balcony above the hall. This did not look like the normal flashing of lights that was coming from the Live House. Ness stared up at the balcony and he saw another flash. In the flash he thought he managed to catch site of a figure that looked frighteningly like a Starman. Was it possible that he, or Ninten, was being tracked? In the middle of one of the songs, he tapped Paula on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I've gotta take a break. I'll be back shortly, hopefully."

Paula looked a little annoyed yet said, "Sure, go ahead." She then went back to dancing to the music. Ness then promptly left and headed towards the back. Poo opened his eyes and noticed that Ness was gone.

"Where's Ness?" he asked.

Paula looked back at Poo and said, "He went to take a break." It was obvious that she was a little annoyed at his leaving the performance. Poo expression only got more serious. Paula noticed that Poo was still not relaxed and appeared to be on guard. She began to grow more concerned "What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Poo answered, puzzled about the feeling he was having. "I just had a strange feeling come over me. It's since passed." He then paused before assuring the younger girl, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Okay," Paula said, her voice wavering. She not entirely convinced that he was okay. She then went back to focusing on the performance and dancing. The song that Ninten and his group were singing was a jazz song, a style of music that Paula loved. However, she still periodically looked back at Poo to see if there was any change to his look.

Up on the balcony overlooking the concert hall, Giygas stood, watching the performance of Ninten and his friends, one of them his wife Ana. Giygas did not recognize the fourth member of Ninten's group, Teddy, though he was very familiar with Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd. He scanned the hall and quickly noticed another trio that he had encountered or seen at various times recently, Ness, Paula, and Poo. He looked down on both the stage and at Ness's table. Poo seemed to be in deep meditation. He did not know whether or not Poo was telepathically scanning the area, though telepathy did not seem to be Poo's specialty, energy sensing, manipulation, and control were. Paula was the telepath, and she was fully engrossed in the music, dancing and clapping to the song, as were Ninten and his friends as they sang. Giygas grinned. This would be the perfect time to take them out. After all, he had sensed no other psychics in Ellay during his tour through the town. Still, that did not mean that Earth was without other psychics of its own. After all, Poo had escaped detection by Giygas and the others, as well as Ness and Paula, the latter of which was known as a psychic in Twoson. Still, this was the best chance he had of being able to eliminate two potential problems with his invasion of Earth. He began to regret not attacking Ness and his allies earlier. Still, he began to think, better late than never. Just then, he sensed the arrival of another presence. He turned and found the semi-translucent spirit of his adoptive mother, Maria. However, she was joined by a young human male that was dressed in a long sleeved shirt and pants. Giygas figured that he was handsome by human standards, but not in a way that would attract a lot of attention.

"Come back to try to convince me to turn away from my ways, Mom?" he mocked before she spoke. "And you also brought some help, too, it seems." He focused his gaze on the human male. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna change just because you beg me too." He then grinned at the two humans and added, "But by all means, come and enjoy the concert with me. They're about to sing, "All That I Needed Was You."

"Maybe that is all that you need," Maria said softly as she approached her son, "someone who loves you."

"You can't love me," Giygas laughed. "I'm a monster, Mother. There's nothing you can do to change that."

"But I love you. And you can change," Maria countered. "You don't have to go through with this."

He turned away from Maria and he sat back and focused on the descendant of Maria, Ninten, as he addressed the audience after they had applauded a performance of their last song, "Thank you. Now we will be performing an old favorite of ours. In fact, this was the song we performed on our first visit to Ellay over ten years ago. This song also introduced us to our friend, Teddy. Ladies and gentlemen, 'All That I Needed Was You'."

The music then began to play as Giygas sat back and glanced over at Maria and said, "Well, you may as well sit back and enjoy the show your descendant puts on. It's the last show he'll ever put on, so you may as well sit back and watch."

Maria came over to sit by her son. Her eyes still seemed to be blinking back tears as she went to hug Giygas. Giygas shook her off and said, "Please. I don't need you to get even more mushy on me now. I have a mission to perform and I will accomplish it."

"Then why don't you just kill them now?" the human male asked. He did not ask it in a sarcastic or condescending way, but merely as a question. This question took Giygas off guard, which the man knew it would. Giygas quickly replied, "Because I'm trying to find out where the other psychics on Earth are."

The human male looked at him skeptically. Giygas grimaced. "Fine, I don't know why I haven't killed them yet."

"I do," Maria said softly, siding up next to him. "Because you still have a conscience."

Giygas turned to her and laughed. "Sit back and relax, Mother. After this song is done, I'll show you just how much of a conscience I have left." He proceeded to sit back down and watched as Ninten and the others began to sing.

During the song, Giygas had just sat and watched as the four performers danced to their singing, along with Paula down below. Giygas had noticed that Ness had left, ostensibly for what he believed to be a bathroom break, but he was skeptical. Still, he knew that Ness did not have any telepathic abilities, at least not with regards to sensing sentient minds. He thought little of it, though. His spies had indicated that Ness was not very fond of singing, so it would be understandable that he might want to take a break from the performance.

Giygas turned back to see Maria and the human male standing behind him. "Still here, eh?" he quipped. "You know, the more you try to turn me away from this path, the more resolved I will be to see it through."

"We can still try," Maria replied.

"So it's 'we' now," Giygas laughed. "I don't understand what it is with you. Why do you want to save me? You know what I've done. I'm beyond salvation!"

"No you're not," the man countered. "No one is."

"Yes I am, Michael," Giygas answered. "I have killed so many people that I've lost count. Men. Women. Children. But you, being the third most powerful being in creation, must know the number. You even know their names. Every. Last. One of them."

Michael nodded. "Yes, I do. Despite everything you've done, though, you are not beyond salvation. You can still change. You can still atone for your past. After all, if you were as evil as you say you are, you would have killed Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd twelve years ago. You would not have been affected by the Eight Melodies. There was no magic in that song, no external power. Its only affect on you was due to your own memories."

Giygas gritted his teeth. "Stop, talking!" he cried out at the archangel. He then powered a blast of PSI Special and unleashed it at the archangel. His attack collided with the archangel and it exploded. The explosion was contained by the archangel's power so the globe of energy expanded to no more than two and a half meters in diameter, inflicting no damage to the floor beneath them. As Giygas had known would happen, Michael suffered no damage from his attack.

Maria, meanwhile, stared into her adoptive son's eyes and pleaded with him, "Please stop this. Don't you see that if you continue down this path, you will die? And you will go to Hell."

"And if I do what you want me to, I'm just as dead," Giygas yelled. "And Ness and the others aren't powerful enough to defeat me."

"Not yet," Michael said in the background. "But they could be shortly," he warned. "You just might even find out how close they are to you now," he added knowingly. He then glanced over at the doorway.

The doorway came open and standing inside the door was Ness. Ness's eyes went wide at the sight of Giygas, as did Giygas's at the sight of Ness. Ness immediately assumed a fighter's stance and drew out his baseball bat, which prompted a smirk from Giygas.

"So the leader of the legendary Chosen Four finally comes to face me," Giygas said confidently. Ness did not respond to the comment.

"What are you doing here?" Ness asked in a low voice. He soon noticed Maria and an unknown man out of the corner of his eye. From the way the man was placing his hand on Maria's shoulder, and the fact that he knew that Maria was dead, he figured the man to be an angel of some sort.

"Checking up on you and your friends," Giygas said in response to Ness. He began to grin at the human boy and he continued, "I have been looking forward to this moment for a while. For the longest time, I had ordered my soldiers to not kill you. However, I'm beginning to wonder what I was thinking when I gave such an order." Ness had no comment. "Ah well, it doesn't matter," Giygas said with a shrug, grinning at Ness. "I'll just finish the job when you come up to Mount Itoi." Giygas then began to laugh maniacally.

As Giygas had thrown back his head while laughing and had closed his eyes, Ness figured that this was his best chance to blindside Giygas with an attack of his own. If he could take out Giygas right here and now, he could neutralize a tremendous threat. And he would not get a better chance to do so. And this way, he would only reveal his own power, something Giygas probably knew anyway. Ness instantly powered a PSI Rockin, but could only charge it to its Gamma form in a quick enough time to fire on Giygas while still being sure of inflicting debilitating damage to the psychic alien. Ness unleashed the scarlet ball of psychic energy at the alien. Ness was at first worried that Maria would warn Giygas about the sneak attack, but Michael still gripped her shoulder. He did not know, or care, if that was because she was going to warn Giygas or not. All he knew was that Giygas did not see the attack when he had unleashed it at the alien. The scarlet ball of energy had nearly collided with Giygas when he looked back at Ness and saw the psychic energy ball streaking towards him. He immediately held out his hand in order to catch the ball. He caught the energy ball in his left hand and immediately upon impact, the ball of energy exploded, engulfing the alien in a field of psychic energy. Ness was not telepathic, but with Giygas managing to intercept the attack with his hand, he believed that Giygas had managed to protect himself from the attack. Indeed, just as Ness had suspected, Giygas emerged from the field of energy once it had dissipated. Giygas looked relatively uninjured, however, there were some black burn marks on his left hand. Giygas did not look to be in much pain from the attack. He raised his hand to his face and looked it over.

"Incredible, boy," he said, his mind still reeling from the attack as he looked over his hand. "You managed to hurt me." Giygas then began to laugh as the burn marks on his hand disappeared. "Indeed you are powerful, just as I suspected. But if that's all you've got, then you won't stand a chance against me."

But Ness was not finished. Faster than a human eye could track, he appeared in front of Giygas and, with a mighty swing, attempted to bring his bat down on Giygas's head. Giygas, however, was no slouch in a physical fight. He managed to sidestep Ness swing. Ness then launched a side kick, which Giygas managed to block. Giygas then stepped back and extended his hand towards the psychic teen. Immediately, Ness found himself sailing through the air, and into a wall. Ness struck the wall, leaving it cracked, and fell to the ground. Giygas laughed. "Yes, you'll need to do better than that if you want to have a hope of beating me," he mocked. He then glanced back over at Maria and Michael, who had not yet left the scene and said, "I'll be seein' you," as condescendingly as possible before disappearing. What Giygas did not notice as he teleported back to Mount Itoi, though, was that Ness was smiling.

"Yes Giygas, underestimate us," he said with a grin to the space that Giygas had filled only a few moments ago. He picked himself up and went over to Maria and Michael. Though he did not know that he was gazing upon the archangel Michael, he could tell that Maria's companion was powerful, and was likely at the very least an angel.

Maria gazed into Ness's eyes with sadness. "Don't face him yet, Ness," she told him. "Despite your strength, he is still too powerful for you."

Ness gave no response, but his gaze did not waver. Maria then backed away and disappeared. Michael, however, still remained. "Your friends and family members that disappeared from your house a few days ago are still alive, so far," he said, with a hint of warning in the last part of his statement. "But do not ignore Maria's warning due to her being Giygas's adoptive mother and still having love for him. You are not yet powerful enough to defeat him."

"I won't face him alone," he told the archangel.

"Even with your friends, the likelihood of defeating Giygas as you are is slim to none," Michael reiterated. "But don't lose hope. You can still accomplish your mission. And Maria is right about the fact that Giygas is not beyond salvation."

With those words, Michael disappeared from Ness's sight. Ness wondered what the angel had meant when he said that Giygas was not beyond salvation. It seemed to Ness as if he was saying that Giygas was not beyond a reasonable attempt of salvation. Ness doubted that, but he would not ignore it should something come up in the future. With nothing further to do up on the balcony, he returned downstairs to the main concert hall.

Back on the main floor, Ness arrived back at the table. He had noticed that it there was currently an intermission before Ninten and the others would start performing again. As Ness took his seat, Paula looked over at him accusingly. "How was your break, Ness?" she asked, still thinking that it was just a way for Ness to get away from the performance, and that she was not pleased.

"It could've been better," Ness responded dryly. After a moment of silence, Poo had not dared to wade into the discussion, Ness spoke again. "I encountered Giygas on the balcony." This caused Paula to gasp, and Poo to focus his gaze on Ness, and widen his eyes.

"What?" Paula gasped. "Giygas was here?"

Ness nodded.

"I didn't sense anyone else besides the people who were already here," she stammered, albeit quietly so as to not draw any attention to herself.

"Neither did I," Poo added. "And I was scanning the whole area as well."

Ness nodded. "I saw a flash up on the balcony and went to investigate. When I encountered Giygas, we had a brief skirmish. He gave better than I did, and my PSI Rockin Gamma only managed to inflict some superficial burns on his hand when he was taken partially off guard. I doubt that my attack would faze him if I used it in a battle where he knew it was coming."

Paula and Poo lowered their heads. "We always knew that if we were going to go to Mount Itoi, we'd need help," Paula said serenely.

"We'll need more than that," Ness said. "I also encountered Maria, Giygas's adoptive mother, and a man who was with her. I think that he was an angel. They both said that I was not strong enough to face Giygas yet. They also strongly implied that if we faced him, we would lose at our current strength, but that he was not insurmountable. I personally think that with the help of Ninten and his friends that we may be able to defeat Giygas, or at least be able to drive him off and allow us to get the Zexonyte from Mount Itoi's peak."

"Then we should get going," Poo declared.

"Not yet," Paula cautioned. "We'll need the help of Ninten and his friends in order to face Giygas. We can talk to them after the concert and tell them what we need, as well as alert them to the threat of Giygas."

After a moment's contemplation, Poo agreed with Paula. Ness also agreed with her assessment as well. The trio then focused back on the stage and waited impatiently for the concert to resume. It was not long before the receptionist came out on stage. "Attention everyone," she called out over the microphone. "Due to extenuating circumstances beyond their control, Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy have had to cut short their concert today. They have asked that you retain your ticket stubs and that you return at eleven o'clock tomorrow for the completion of their concert. Thank you for your kind attention." This was met with a chorus of groans and complaints in the audience. This announcement had a different effect on Ness and Paula as they gasped in horror.

"Oh no! We have to find them," Paula said in an almost panicked voice. "They have no idea what Giygas is capable of."

"I'm not so sure about that," Poo countered sagely. "From what I've heard about them during the ride with Teddy and what Giygas has told you about his history, I do believe that Ninten and his friends were the ones who defeated him in his first invasion of Earth twelve years ago. Besides, we don't know for certain that they're going to Mount Itoi."

"Giygas has changed since then," Ness stated. "And I can see no other reason to cut this concert short. They must have sensed my encounter with Giygas, or heard our discussion about him. No, they're going to Mount Itoi."

"Then we have to hurry," Poo said, realizing that Ness was most likely correct in his assessment. "If we're quick we might be able to get to them before they reach the mountain."

The trio then stood up and headed over to the exit. Before they reached the exit, though, they were intercepted by the receptionist. She came over and to them and told them, "If you're looking for Ninten and the others, they have already left."

"Did they say where they were going?" Paula asked.

The receptionist nodded. "They're going to Mount Itoi," she informed them kindly. "They said that there was some unfinished business on the mountain that they had to take care of. Teddy said that Ninten specifically asked that you not follow them in fighting the monster; that this was something that they had to take care of on their own. They said that they would distract the monster while you got what you needed from the mountain's peak."

This was the worst news that Ness and the others could hear. If the two teams had combined, he felt as if they might have had a chance against Giygas, but with Ninten and the others facing him alone, there was no chance of victory. Heck, even he had to admit, though, that even with Ninten's help, that there was a chance that Giygas was too powerful for them to defeat. Still, he did not like the fact that Ninten and the others were basically going on a suicide mission against Giygas, especially if the special song that Maria had taught him was no longer effective against him.

"How much of a head start do they have?" Poo asked.

The receptionist shrugged. "I don't know, around five to seven minutes, maybe. They headed out in a big hurry; I know that."

"Then that doesn't leave us much time," Paula stated.

The three then went to head off towards the mountain. "Wait!" the receptionist called over to them. The three stopped and glanced back at the woman. "First off is this." She then handed them a pamphlet. "This contains a basic map of Mount Itoi, including rest stops," she explained. They are marked with red dots. Teddy also told me to tell you that at the base of the mountain is a healer that gives out free Life Up Creams. They are powerful healing medicine that cost two hundred dollars at the Ellay Department Store. These special creams are said to completely heal you of any injury. It does not cure any poison or sickness, though. He said that they were very useful."

Ness and the others thanked the receptionist before departing. As the trio left, the receptionist offered a silent prayer for the safe return of Ninten and his friends, including the safe return of Ness. She also quietly wished them, "Good luck." She then returned to the entrance.

Outside the Live House, Ness and the others opened up the map and quickly scanned it, noting the place where the healer sold the Life Up Creams. After the trio had studied the map carefully, they proceeded to make their way north towards a bridge that would take them out of the city and to the base of the mountain. They decided to bypass the Ellay Department Store since they knew that they could survive the trip to the healer's cabin.

At the peak of Mount Itoi, Giygas stood, scanning the environment around him for the minds of any newcomers. He knew from the time that Ness had fought him that it was likely that he would be seeing the young teen again in the future. Still, he had sensed nothing approaching the mountain yet. He did not think much of it, though. Chances are that they had waited for the concert to end before making their move. The one concern that he had was the prospect of Ness and his friends joining forces with Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and this Teddy. If the three psychics joined with Ninten and his group, there could be trouble. After all, he had not been able to accurately gauge Ness's psychic abilities in their brief skirmish. While he did not think that Ness had learned anything new about him, either, he did not want to take any chances with regards to fighting Ness. Ness was powerful; far more so than Ninten and Ana combined had been a dozen Earth years ago. Not only that, but he suspected that Ninten and Ana had only gotten stronger in the dozen years since. Ninten had not known any offensive PSI in their last battle, and Ana's elemental PSI, and her PSI Beam, had been ineffective against him due to her lack of psychic firepower. They were nowhere near as powerful in that battle as Maria had been in their battle all those years ago. He felt that Ness and his friends, however, were. If that was the case then, even though they were not strong enough to beat him on their own, they could still hurt him. With the addition of a couple of strong fighters, they might be able to give him a fight.

He quickly looked over the crater. In the center of the crater was a mineral that had been stored inside the cargo hold of the grounded starship. It was Zexonyte. The ore was the fuel source of the ship as well as the fuel source for the Phase Distorter. Giygas looked down into the gorge with satisfaction. He knew that the Zexonyte would lure Ness and the others here before they were fully prepared to face him. He knew that he would have one safe opportunity to take Ness and his friends out of the picture. Unless Ninten and Ana had gotten significantly stronger, he could care less about how powerful they became.

He floated over to the rocky edge of the gorge and softly touched the ground. Almost immediately after he touched down, Starman Deluxe Alpha appeared next to him. "Your report," Giygas ordered.

"So far, everything is in order," the Starman answered. "We have called back all of our remaining units to the mountain, as per your orders."

Just then, a Starman Super, the same one that was bearing the katana that Giygas had given him, came floating out of the cavern that led to the gorge. "Master," he said bowing. "Our scans have detected four humans entering the area of Mount Itoi."

"Who are they?" Giygas asked quickly.

"Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy," the Starman Super responded.

"Any sign of Ness, Paula, or Prince Poo?"

The Starman Super shook his head. "No, Master. So far, they have yet to appear."

Giygas grimaced. He did not want Ninten and his party to blind his men to the threat of Ness and the others. Not only that, but chances were that Ninten and his posse could thin out the ranks of his forces, making it easier for Ness's party to pass.

"Get our soldiers to their positions," Giygas commanded the Starman Deluxe.

"It shall be done, Master," the Starman Deluxe said, bowing before his master.

"Tell our soldiers that they have full authorization to kill any and all intruders," Giygas added. "There is no more uncertainty in my mind. None of them have any further information that I need. They must die, now!"

The Starman Deluxe grinned. "Your will be done, Master," he replied before disappearing.

Giygas then turned to the Starman Super and commanded, "You, stay here for now. I will have need of you for a mission should Ness somehow survive this trip."

"Understood," was the Starman Super's only response. Then, Giygas stood on top of the mountain, waiting to see if either Ninten's group, or Ness's would make it up to face him. The only thing that he was worried about was the fact that he was using the dregs of his forces, the older style Starmen, Mooks, and other weaker alien forces against the attackers, so chances were that he would lose a lot more enemy soldiers before engaging either Ninten, or Ness's groups.

Down at the base of Mount Itoi, Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy had already made it towards the caves of Mount Itoi. The remains of a few fallen UFOs littered the ground behind them. Several unconscious animals such as Buffalos and Seagulls were also strewn about on the ground. As the quartet approached the cave, a group of aliens emerged to meet them led by two Blue Starmen, Starmen who wore blue spacesuits. Among the party were normal older Starmen, Mooks, Energy Robots, Light Elves, Faeries, aliens that looked to be Roswell Grays, and a whole assortment of other animals. The Elves and Faeries were armed with swords while the Grays had B-grade Science Fiction looking blaster pistols in their hands, all pointed straight at the quartet.

Ninten looked over to his wife, Ana, and to Lloyd and Teddy. Each of them nodded in return and drew out their weapons. Ninten produced a baseball bat and held it out in front of him. Ana drew out a frying pan and gripped it in her hand while electricity arced in her left hand. Lloyd, who was the scientific genius of the group, drew out a flamethrower and stood at the front of the group with Ana. Last was Teddy, who drew out a katana. He stood back with Ninten. Ninten then glanced over at the force of aliens that had been arrayed against him, about sixteen in all. "Well, here goes," Ninten shrugged. Then, the battle began with Ana unleashing a blast of PSI Fire Gamma, and Lloyd opening fire with his flamethrower.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

The trio of psychics made their way across the bridge and walked through a forest towards the base of Mount Itoi. The hike was surprisingly easy, though the sight of the large mountain looming in the distance kept them on guard. They figured that there was no way that they would be able to approach the mountain undetected so they kept a quick pace, rather than proceeding cautiously. They needed to catch up to Ninten and his friends before they engaged Giygas, for alone, neither team was a match for the PSI Alien leader. Along the way, they noticed a trail of unconscious animals and metallic wreckage strewn about the area. The three stopped for a second and checked on the animals, mostly seagulls and a few buffalos. Paula sensed that the animals were unconscious, but not permanently injured. However, she also sensed something else.

"Ness, these animals are under the control of an outside force," she reported.

"It figures," Ness replied, who was now thinking back to his first adventure three years ago. "This isn't the first time that animals have been manipulated or outright mind controlled into serving Giygas. But it will be the last," he added coldly.

Ness then turned back to Paula and Poo. "Is there anything up ahead?"

Both teens closed their eyes in unison and remained motionless for a second. After a moment, they reopened them and shook their heads. "The path seems clear all the way to the base of the mountain," Paula answered, not bothering to hide her surprise. "But I can't sense anything beyond that. They must have a psychic ward to prevent scanning," she postulated.

Ness shrugged. That would not have surprised him. Still, he was glad that the path leading to the mountain seemed to be free of any hazards for the moment. With that, they continued on their way.

Their trek through the first part of the forest was pretty uneventful. The only things of note were more unconscious animals lining the trail interspersed with the wreckage of machines. Ness noticed that a downed UFO, which had an odd, for a UFO, coloring of reddish orange, still seemed to function, though it was not in any shape to fly. It was also larger than many of the smaller UFOs that Ness had seen. Ness noticed that the craft was covered with scratches, burn marks, and even had pieces of its hull missing. It was missing its cannon, but Ness did not want to take any chances. He took out his baseball bat and brought the wooden bat down upon the UFO. The craft immediately cracked and the lights that were still blinking intermittently immediately went dark. Ness then bashed the now nonfunctional UFO again and again. Metallic shards spewed forth from the downed UFO as Ness made sure that the craft was destroyed. Eventually, all that was left was a mass of twisted and shattered metal. Ness kicked the craft once more, causing it to spill its gears and wires out onto the ground. Satisfied that the UFO was destroyed, the four continued to make their way towards the mountain. The three psychics were wishing that Jeff had been with them now more than ever. With him, they had a true long range attack option that could be used against individual weaker enemies that was not psychic. Ness scowled. That was probably Giygas's plan all along: throw weak enemies against Ness and the others and while having the UFOs chip away at their defenses from beyond the range of Ness and the others' ability to face them without using their psychic powers. If there was one definite edge that Giygas had over the human psychics, it was that he had greater psychic stamina than Ness and his friends.

It was not long before the party emerged from the first section of woodlands and reached a clearing. In the clearing was a small bridge that rose out above a stream. As they neared the bridge, the sun shined down on them. The trio basked in the sunlight for a moment before crossing the bridge. After they crossed the bridge, they found another dense section of woodland and they followed the trail through the woods. Again, there were several bodies lining the trail. These bodies, however, belonged to Starmen and some other type of enemy that none of the teens had recognized. The bodies of the unknown enemy were made out of what looked to be metal bars. The bodies of the robots and Starmen had holes burned into their bodies, as well as scorch marks on them. It was obvious to the teens that the Starmen were dead, and that the robotic enemies were nonfunctional. The trio then continued on their trek towards the mountain. Not far into their trek, they came across a gray cabin on the side of the trail. Ness checked the map and figured that this was the cabin that the receptionist had told them gave out free Life Up Creams. The teens took the quick detour to the cabin and proceeded to enter.

The inside of the cabin was set up like a small house. There was a table that could seat four, with chairs surrounding it. There was also a door that led to a back room. To the right of the entrance, though, was a bar counter. Behind the counter was a man dressed in a white lab coat and wore eyeglasses. The man also had graying hair. Ness figured that the man was a doctor. He approached the counter and the doctor greeted him and his friends warmly.

"Welcome to my cabin," he told them. "I have a large supply of Life Up Cream here, a creamy treat that can heal any injuries that you sustain in your trek up Mount Itoi, assuming you are not already unconscious or dead. Since I have so many, I'm giving them away for free. I also can supply you with a place to rest for the long trip if you wish to take a break."

"Thanks," Ness replied. He then looked over the seemingly endless supply of Life Up Creams. Paula then went up to the counter and asked for five Life Up Cream packets, since that was all that she could carry at the moment. Poo also went up to the counter. He asked for nine packets of Life Up Cream. The doctor obliged them and handed them the requested amounts of Life Up Cream. The teens promptly placed the Life Up Creams inside their backpacks.

"Would you like to stay for a while?" the doctor asked. "The trip Mount Itoi is a treacherous one, especially with all the monsters that have been seen roaming about recently."

Ness glanced over at his party. Paula and Poo both seemed to be ready to go and he was not feeling particularly fatigued either, so he thanked the doctor for his offer, but responded, "No, thank you. We're fine as is."

"Okay, then. Good luck kids," the doctor wished as Ness and his party exited the cabin.

Outside the cabin, Ness and the others proceeded to make their way towards the mountain. The mountain seemed to be growing larger and larger as they approached. After a few more steps, they encountered a wild buffalo blocking their way. The beast took one look at the children and proceeded to charge towards them. Ness stepped out in front to intercept the attacking creature. He held out his hand and the buffalo's charge was immediately halted, the beast was suspended a few yards in front of Ness. Despite the pounding of his hoofs into the ground, trying to push against the invisible wall that was blocking him from his targets, he was unable to move. Ness pushed his hand forward and stretched out his arm entirely. The buffalo was propelled backwards by the telekinetic wave of force directed at him. The buffalo landed ten yards away and skidded to a halt on its back. After rising, the best promptly fled the scene, not wanting any more of what Ness had. The teens proceeded on their way.

With each step closer, Paula's expression seemed to darken and her gaze seemed to be distant. Ness noticed this and went over to her. "Is everything okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

Paula looked over at him, snapped out of her reverie and replied, "Huh? Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You looked like your mind was somewhere else for a moment," he answered.

"That's because I was trying to penetrate the psychic barrier over the mountain," she explained. Her voice seemed to be full of anxiety "I can't sense anything else between us and the mountain, and the interior of the mountain is completely shut out from my senses."

"We suspected something like this might happen," Ness said, comforting Paula.

"Yeah," she admitted. "But I still don't like it. Giygas knows what's coming at him, while we know nothing of what we're going to be facing inside the caves or on top of that mountain besides Giygas, himself."

"Hey you two," Poo, who had taken the lead when Ness went back to check on Paula, called. "I think I may have found something strange here."

The two other psychics rushed over to Poo. He directed their attention straight ahead. Just ahead of them, they found the remains of several Starmen and a whole assortment of other aliens and creatures. Many of the remains had been burnt beyond recognition and the fact that there were several piles of ashes likely meant that more than eight aliens had lost their lives here. Poo recognized some of the more intact bodies as having belonged to elves. Another of the more intact bodies seemed to belong to a fairy-like being, but they did not know its species identification. They also noticed an alien that looked like a Roswell Gray among the dead, as well as a Starman that seemed to have worn a blue uniform. "These were the same uniforms that some of the Starmen wore onboard the Flagship of the PSI Alien fleet," Ness noticed.

"Weren't those Starmen significantly weaker than the normal Starmen we faced?" Paula asked.

"Yes," Ness answered, nodding.

"It seems as if Giygas is hurting for troops if these are all he has left," Poo noted. "Let's hope that the previous battles have drained him of forces." The others nodded hopefully, though they still expected to face tougher opponents during their trek up the mountain.

The three then walked past the scene and headed towards the mountain. On the mountain, a cave entrance met them. It was about seven feet tall and two could walk abreast. There were more remains at the entrance of the cave. The head of a Roswell Gray could be seen at the entrance. Paula looked away, covering her mouth, doing her best not to vomit. After a quick scan, the rest of his body had been found a few feet away. It looked as if the alien had been beheaded. Ness noticed looked down to see if the alien had been armed. He soon saw that the pistol the alien had likely been holding was in pieces, as if it had been dissected. The trio quickly walked past the scene and entered the cave.

Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy emerged from the caves of Mount Itoi and stepped out onto the plateau. Ninten gripped his bat tightly while Ana and Lloyd led the way. Lloyd held out his flamethrower and opened fire with it on a duo of Rockoyles, two green gargoyle-like enemies with wings, that had swooped down to attack the party. The flames from the flamethrower were insufficient to kill the two rock creatures, though. Only an additional blast of PSI Fire Beta from Ana was sufficient to kill the creatures. The creatures fell to the ground, crashed, and shattered into fragments of stone. The quartet continued to make their way up the mountain past the remains of the Rockoyles. They were soon confronted by two Grizzly Bears, a Titanian, and a Mega Borg. Seeing that a battle with this quartet of creatures would be costly, simply charged through the attack party unleashing their most powerful attacks on the creatures. The attacks, alone, were insufficient to kill the creatures, but they did cause the creatures to back off, allowing the quartet to make their way through them and run as fast as they could to escape while still making their way towards their goal of reaching the top of Mount Itoi. Lloyd stayed back with Ana as Ninten and Teddy, being close range combatants proceeded to moved forward with Ana and Lloyd covering them. Lloyd again took aim and opened fire with his flamethrower. Since the creatures had already been weakened by the earlier surprise attack of the party, Lloyd's attack only served to weaken the enemy attackers more. In fact, his attack was sufficient to melt the Mega Borg, leaving only the two Grizzly Bears and Titanian to deal with. Ana assisted Lloyd by using PSI Freeze Gamma on the Titanian. The snowflake of psychic energy struck the bug-like alien and encased it in a block of ice. That still left the two Grizzly Bears, though.

The bears leapt onto Ana and Lloyd and attacked. Ana had barely managed to erect a Shield Beta over herself and Lloyd. The bears slammed into the shield, tearing and biting at the shield, trying to maul the two young adults. The shield flickered with each strike. The shield managed to hold for the moment, but the strength of the Grizzly Bears was obscene. The shield would not last long. The shield was on the verge of collapse when Ninten and Teddy rejoined the fight. The two men charged in and attacked the attacking bears. Ninten came and assisted Ana, bashing one of the bears over the head with his baseball bat. The bear immediately collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Teddy, meanwhile, went over to assist Lloyd. He tackled the bear that was attacking Lloyd to the ground and with his katana, stabbed the bear in a non-vital area in the leg. The bear yelped in pain and backed away from the man. The battle was over, for the moment. With that fight over, Ninten's party proceeded up the mountain. However, along the way, they were met by another squad of Starmen. They backed away to find a better fighting position when they saw more aliens pursuing them. Seeing that it was safer to charge through the ranks of Starmen, Ana issued a blast of PSI Fire Omega at the Starmen, instantly reducing them to ashes. The team then fled the onrushing attack from the rear, taking shots at their pursuers as they made their way up the mountain and towards a cabin, that they remembered had a healer. There, they could rest before making the final leg of their journey.

On the top of Mount Itoi, Giygas telepathically oversaw the battle between Ninten's party and his forces on Mount Itoi. He smiled wryly at the courage demonstrated by Ninten and his party, but noted quickly that his party was fighting a running battle against his minions. Apparently, Ninten and the others had not increased in power as much as Giygas had initially feared. At first, he was thrilled, but then he remembered Ness. Given his luck, chances were that Ness and his friends were stronger than he had initially anticipated. Either way, this was not too bad. He could easily handle Ninten and his party on his own. The problem would come when Ness appeared. He was about to shift his focus to inside the lower caves when Starman Deluxe Alpha appeared to give his report. "Master," the Starman called over to him quickly, "we have spotted Ness and his party. They have just entered the caves at the base of the mountain. Should we send any soldiers down to intercept him?"

Giygas weighed his options before committing to any action regarding Ness. He could send down some soldiers to help take down Ness, but chances were that Ness and the others would just blow through them with just as much ease as before. Ness was not Ninten. All three of Ness party could use offensive PSI. He could call all of his soldiers back to cover him so that when Ness did arrive, he would be facing an army, in addition to facing Giygas. He decided against that, though. That could allow for Ninten and the others to meet up with Ness's party. He finally decided on a third option.

"Starman Deluxe Alpha, send down the rest of the Last Generation Starmen to intercept Ninten and his party," he commanded. "Anyone who survives Ninten's passing is to engage Ness. Tell the Faeries and Light Elves to kill Ness's party on sight."

"Understood, Master," Alpha replied.

"Also, get the R7038 and R7038XX to their positions. Also, tell them _not_ to engage Ninten and his friends. They are only to fight Ness and his party. They may defend themselves if Ninten and his friends pick a fight with them, but that they are not to initiate combat with them. Against Ness, though, they have free reign."

"Will they be able to stop Ness, though," the Starman Deluxe asked. "You said that Ness took down two R7037s when he helped George rescue Maria and we already saw Dalaam's prince deal with a force of R7037s and an R7038."

"No," Giygas stated plainly. "But that's not their function right now. Right now they are PSI sponges. They are there to force Ness and his team to use their most powerful attacks and use up their psychic energy. The more energy I can get them to burn battling minions, the better my chances against them are should the worst case scenario occur and they show themselves to be stronger than I initially believed."

"I see," the Starman Deluxe replied, realizing Giygas's plan. "Is that all, Master?"

"Yes," Giygas answered curtly. "Dismissed."

The Starman Deluxe then disappeared and went to carry out Giygas's orders. Giygas, meanwhile, simply sat on the peak of the mountain, waiting for the fateful encounters with Ninten's party, and then, Ness.

The interior of the cave was wider than its entrance, and higher, but not by as much as Ness and the others had expected. The group continued to walk forward until the path forked. Ness took out the map once more and studied it carefully. They wanted to take the shortest path through the caves as possible so they could catch up to Ninten and his party. Still, Ness had the suspicion that there were items to be found in this cave, items that could prove useful to the party. As such, when the map told him to take the first left, he decided not to follow the map, but to follow the path all the way around and explore to see what other items they could find for their quest. Paula and Poo were both skeptical when they saw Ness follow the wrong path.

"Wait," Paula called out to him. "The correct path is to the left back here."

"I know," Ness called back. "But I wonder what items we might find lying around these caves. If we find some good items, we could better equip ourselves for the road ahead."

"He has a good point," Poo agreed as he went forward to follow Ness. Paula did not disagree with Ness's position on the subject, either, so she, too, decided to follow Ness. They followed the winding path through the caves. Apparently, Ninten and his friends had not followed the long path, for standing in front of them were a quartet of Cerebrums. Poo knew that while they could use a whole host of psychic attacks, they seemed to not be able to mount any real defense against attacks. He relayed this information to Ness and Paula, saying, "Be careful, these enemies have strong psychic attacks, but they seem to be light on defense."

This was all Ness needed to hear. Not wanting to waste any psychic energy, or his more powerful Super Bombs on such enemies, he drew out a normal bomb from his pocket. He pushed its activation button and tossed it over to the Cerebrums. The Cerebrums only noticed the bomb when it hit the ground right between them. The bomb promptly exploded, sending the brains in jars flying in all directions. The shockwave and shrapnel from the explosions shattered the jars and the metallic pieces embedded themselves inside the brains. The liquid that the brains existed in inside the jars leaked onto the floor, but that did not matter. The brains were already nonfunctional due the damage they had sustained from the explosion. The trio ran past the fallen enemies and continued to walk until they came to a dead end. At the dead end, though, there was a gift box, wrapped in green wrapping paper with a red ribbon. Ness went over to the box and tore off the wrapping paper. He then opened the box and extracted the contents. He pulled out a magnificent broadsword. The scabbard of the blade was made of leather. Ness immediately drew the blade out of his scabbard. The blade was solid steel and the guard was golden with a red ruby in the middle. The blade also looked like it had some symbols carved into it. Poo came over to examine the sword and stared in awe at the marvelously crafted blade. Ness noticed that his friend was enthralled by the blade and handed it over to him saying, "Here, take it. You could use a weapon and I already have my bat."

"Thanks," Poo managed to say as he hesitantly took the blade, and the scabbard, slinging it over his back. He took a few practice swings with the weapon and then sheathed the blade, satisfied with how it handled. With that, the trio headed back for correct path. They backtracked until they found the last fork, which now pointed to their right. They proceeded down the new winding path and into another cave mouth, encountering no enemies save those that were either unconscious or dead. Not wanting to risk needless combat they did not bother to check on the conditions of the enemies. Upon arriving at a new entrance that led deeper into the caves of Mount Itoi, they entered the new cave mouth.

The trio soon found themselves on a path of similar width. Ness figured that it was likely that these caves were of artificial construction, though he did not know whether it was Giygas and his troops that had made them, or George who had created them when he first came to Mount Itoi. If it had, indeed, been George who made them, though, this was an impressive feat, indeed.

The three psychics continued down the path when a stream of fire headed their way. Paula tried to erect a psychic shield in time to intercept the attack, but she was unsuccessful. The flames filled the entire path, engulfing the heroes before they had managed to raise a shield to block them. Had they been normals, they would have been burned alive by the attack. Since they were psychic, though, and had enhanced durability, they were able to survive the attack with only a few minor burns and soot marks on the exposed parts of their bodies. Paula had managed to raise a shield before the blast of psychic fire had managed to inflict more damage on them. Immediately, the fire attacks were joined by a barrage of PSI Beam attacks, as well as by other attacks, some of them not psychic. Some of the non-psychic attacks managed to land on the heroes penetrating their shields and inflicting only moderate damage due to their superior durability. Ness stepped out to intercept the brunt of the attack. He quickly retaliated by powering a ball of PSI Rockin. He scanned the area ahead to see what the enemy force consisted of, so he would know what level to power his Rockin attack to. The enemy force consisted of three Cerebrums, two Mega Borgs, and two Blue Starmen. That meant that Ness would be okay merely powering the attack to its Gamma level. He did so and he unleashed the scarlet ball of psychic energy at the enemy force. The Starmen and the Cerebrums were instantly doomed by the attack and tried to flee, for the little good it did them. The Mega Borgs, though, stood their ground, expecting their armor to protect them from the psychic attack. Unfortunately, their armor may well have been made out of tissue paper for all the good it did them. They were the first to be vaporized by Ness's psychic attack. The Starmen and Cerebrums soon followed in the footsteps of the Mega Borgs and were disintegrated by Ness's attack.

Once the skirmish was over, Ness knelt down on one knee, obviously winded. Both Paula and Poo rushed to his aid and checked him out. Ness held a hand up, though, warding them off. "Don't worry," he said, gathering his strength, "I'll manage."

Poo then offered him some Life Up Cream. "You have to be at full strength," the older teen sagely advised.

Ness shook his head. "I've got other healing items that I can use," he told Poo. "Save the Life Up Cream for when we are in dire need of it."

Poo then put the packet of cream back into his bag while Ness sat down and fished for one of his Mega Double Burger Meals inside his backpack. He opened the package and began to eat. Paula was dumbfounded that Ness could eat a burger that was as old as the burger he was eating. He must have had a very strong stomach, indeed. After a few minutes, Ness was finished. When the party went to check on him, though, all signs of injury were gone. Paula stared in amazement. It really did seem as if the meal had been able to heal him, much as the Life Up Cream would have. Once Ness was finished, the trio continued on their journey.

Not long after they started walking, they came to a fork in the path. Ness took out the map again and checked on their location. If he was reading the map correctly, he figured that the path to the right was the path that would lead them to the exit the fastest. The trio turned to their right and followed the path until they came to a new cave mouth. Along the way they encountered no resistance of any sort. There were some fallen Blue Starmen strewn about on the floor, though. They soon entered the cave mouth and continued on towards the end of the cave.

Upon emerging from the cave mouth, the trio found a new path. This path led to the right while a little ways forward was another cave mouth to the left. Checking the map, Ness knew to avoid the cave mouth on the left. That would merely take him closer to the entrance to the cave. Instead, he followed the path down and took a sharp right along with the path. While he was not telepathic, or an energy sensor, Ness knew that something was around the corner and before taking the sharp right, he stopped and held up his hand. Paula and Poo stopped behind him. He turned back to the two of them but said nothing. Nothing needed to be said, though. They knew what he wanted to know. They both closed their eyes for a second and then opened them again, both sets of eyes now glowing.

"There are four enemies around the corner," Paula stated. "Two Blue Starmen and two Kellys, golden suits of robotic armor that can use psychic attacks. They use an attack called PSI Beam. It's not very powerful until it reaches its Gamma level. PSI Beam Gamma is a one-hit KO."

"Got it," Ness replied.

"I'll take point," Poo declared. This surprised Ness.

"But Poo…" Ness began.

"You used PSI Rockin Gamma," Poo interrupted. "We don't need you to use up too much of your psychic energy. You're a strong healer and we may have need of that later on."

"Fine," Ness said, seeing Poo's point. "You take point."

Poo then went to the head of the group. Paula quickly cast a PSI Shield Sigma over the party, so as to conserve her own psychic power and to also make sure that none of the enemies that had PSI Beam Gamma would score a one-hit kill on them. Poo stepped out around the corner and began to charge a blast of PSI Thunder Omega in his hands. Lightning arced around his fingers as he made his way towards the quartet of enemies. He wondered for a second if PSI Thunder Omega was overdoing it. In the end, he figured that it was worth it for the confirmed kills that it would give him. Not only that, but it would penetrate any psychic shields or counters that may have been erected. Poo inched his way forward as quietly as possible. He got as close as he could until he was within point blank range of the enemy. Unbelievably, they still had not detected his presence at all. When he got into position he merely extended his hands and unleashed the massive volley of PSI Thunder at his opponents. The lightning bolts that erupted from his hands struck the quartet of Giygas's minions and reduced them to ashes within seconds, electricity arcing across their bodies until they were reduced to dust. When the threat was gone, Poo motioned for Ness and Paula to come out. They did so and found nothing but the ashes of the enemies remaining. Ness and his party then proceeded to make their way down the path. They continued down the path for a couple of minutes until they found a cave door on their right. Checking the map, Ness confirmed that this door would lead them to the next section of the caves of Mount Itoi. The trio then proceeded to enter the door and emerged on another path.

Ness and the party emerged in an area with a very thin path that was barely passable by two people walking abreast. Immediately, Ness knew that this would be a good place for an ambush. He ushered Paula to the front with him, with Poo standing behind them. There needed to be two people in front in Ness's mind, one that could cast psychic shields, and one that could cast normal shields. Ness glanced over at Paula, his gaze telling her that he wanted an update on how many enemies were down this path. Paula extended her telepathic senses down the path, which went on a long way, and found only a few Blue Starmen and a couple of Cerebrums. They were the survivors of the main force that, according to the minds of the aliens, had been defeated by Ninten and his allies in a running battle. She relayed the information to Ness and the two of them led the way down the long straight and narrow path. When the trio came up to one of these enemies, Paula would often launch a snowflake of PSI Freeze at its Alpha level for the Blue Starmen, and its Beta level for the Cerebrums. The enemies, more often than not, never knew what hit them, and those that did see her attacks coming were defeated before they could muster any offense of their own. The trio continued down the long pathway for several minutes until they came to a sharp turn. Ness took the turn and noticed that the path immediately forked again. Checking the map, he led the group to the left.

The group continued on its way towards exit of the caves of Mount Itoi and onto the mountainside proper. The path that they took led in the opposite direction that they had just been walking, which caused the trio to look at the map to confirm that they were going on the right path. Once they were satisfied that they were on the right path, Ness glanced over at Paula for an update for any enemy activity. She shook her head, indicating that there were no living enemies present. The presence of the bodies of Roswell Grays and what looked to be a Diva Elf, however, indicated that the servants of Giygas had been present along this path though. The group figured that Ninten and his friends had cleared the way of enemies. Ness and the other were issuing silent prayers of thanks for the actions of Ninten and his friends. They only hoped that they would be able to reach Ninten in time.

After a while, the party reached the cave door that led to another section of the cave. The party immediately entered the door and emerged in another section of the cave. Checking his map again, Ness found that this was the home stretch. The trio rushed through this section after Paula scanned for enemies and found none. They were in such a hurry that they almost missed the gift box that was lying on the ground, still wrapped. Ness noticed it, though, and slowed down for a bit to investigate. Paula also gathered around the gift box, as did Poo. Poo then scanned it to see if there were any strange energies emanating from the box. It seemed to be clean. After Poo indicated that all was well, Ness grabbed the box and opened it. Inside the box was a PSI Stone. Ness immediately put it in his pocket and they continued on their way. After following the path for a few more minutes, they found the exit to the caves of Mount Itoi. The trio approached the exit to the cave and, once Paula confirmed that there were no immediate dangers lurking just outside, the trio emerged from the caves and stepped out onto the top of a cliff.

Once they were on the cliffs of Mount Itoi, they proceeded to look out at the land around them. They could see the city of Ellay below them. The buildings looking much smaller in the distance than they had been up close. They then turned around to see how much higher they had to climb. They could tell that they still had a good ways to climb before reaching the top of the large mountain. They also looked ahead to see if there were any enemies present. They found more bodies, and remains of bodies, lying about. They were mostly Titanians, Rockoyles, and Gargoyles. Ness glanced over at Paula once again to get her take on the situation. She closed her eyes for a moment and then reopened them. "We're clear for a while," she told them. "There is a group of enemies waiting at the top of the next area of the mountain, the one with the rest cabin. They consist of Blue Starmen, Faeries, Light Elves, and Mega Borgs."

Ness nodded in acknowledgement. The trio then got to work climbing the mountain's clifface. After walking a little ways out, they came to a ledge attached to the cliffs of the mountain and also noticed a rope hanging from a tree that was growing on the top of the ledge. The trio approached the rope with apprehension. Poo quickly took the lead and grabbed the rope. He pulled the rope to see if it would snap or unwind. It did neither so he then jumped up and grabbed the rope and started to climb. He was followed by Ness, and then by Paula. The rope was surprisingly stable and the trio managed to reach the top of the ledge without any difficulty. They soon saw a second rope hanging from another tree. Ness looked over at Paula again, who shook her head. Ness took this to mean that the enemies were not waiting for them at top, so they would not be ambushed. With that, he led the climb up the rope.

Upon reaching the top, true to Paula's sensation, there were no enemies there. There were what appeared to be the remains of two Roswell Grays, though. Their bodies had been badly burned. It was likely that they had been fried by a blast of fire from a flamethrower or PSI Fire. The trio walked past the corpses and made their way towards another rope. This one hung from high section of the mountainside. Ness approached it when Paula gripped his shoulder and cautioned, "Wait." She closed her eyes and soon reopened them again. They were glowing. "I'm sensing the enemy lying in wait for us up there. There are at least a dozen of them and the Light Elves have erected Shield Omegas over the party."

"Do they have any PSI Shield Omegas over the party as well?" Poo asked.

"No," Paula answered, shaking her head.

Both Ness and Poo grinned. It would not be difficult to formulate a battle strategy, then. In order to ensure that the party would not be taken out by any surprise attacks, Paula used her psychic abilities to increase the strength and durability of the party. The party then made their way to the rope and proceeded to climb, Ness periodically looking back at Paula for any indication as to the condition of the enemy platoon. Her voice echoed through his mind, _We're fine if we hurry. We should be able to take them by surprise_.

Ness then proceeded to climb all the faster. Just before he reached the top, he powered a ball of PSI Rockin Gamma and held it in his hand. With one hand, he then pulled himself up to the ledge and unleashed his ball of Rockin at the enemy party. The Faeries noticed Ness and gave a loud cry as they spread their translucent wings and soared into the air as he launched his psychic attack. The Light Elves ran from the attack as fast as they could, but only one of them managed to escape the blast zone. The others were vaporized, along with the Blue Starmen, who did not demonstrate the teleportation abilities of their next generation brethren. The Blue Starmen were instantly vaporized by the field of scarlet psychic energy. The Light Elves that had not run fast enough to escape the blast tried to chant a magical spell as they fled the explosion. The spells could not be completed before they were engulfed by the red globe of energy, though, and they met the same fate as the Blue Starmen.

The Faeries and the surviving Light Elf, now decided that it was time to counterattack. As the rest of the party made it up to the ledge, the Faeries drew their swords and swooped down to attack the party while the Light Elf chanted an offensive spell of some sort. Paula did not give the Light Elf a chance to finish her spell as she unleashed a blast of PSI Thunder at the elf. Paula's attack struck the elf and the unfortunate elf gave a cry as she was electrocuted. The elf collapsed onto the ground, lightning arcing over her quivering body. The hole that was seared into her chest indicated that the elf was either dead or dying, so Paula moved to assist Ness and Poo against the Faeries and the Mega Borgs, who had decided to join the battle.

Poo engaged the two Faeries in close combat while Ness engaged the Mega Borgs. Paula, noticing that her comrades were engaging the Faeries and Borg in close combat, cried out over the din, "Hey, don't forget about the counter shields they have protecting them!"

Ness risked a glance back at Paula as lightning crackled around her fingertips. He had forgotten that a Shield Omega had been raised over the enemy party. He immediately called over to Poo, yelling, "Hey Poo, PSI only!"

Poo nodded and he backed away from the Faeries, who had drawn exquisite swords and prepared to swoop down on the psychic prince. Poo immediately powered a blast of PSI Thunder and unleashed it upon the swooping Faeries. The blast of lightning caught the lead Faerie, a male who was wearing ornate golden armor covering him from head to toe, in the chest and he cried out as the lightning attack burned a hole into his chest. He fell out of the sky and crashed to the ground, skidding to a halt a few yards away from the impact area, electricity still sparking across his body. The female Faerie, who had been dressed in a green tunic and mini-skirt, swerved to the side to avoid the blast that had been aimed at her. While the blast of lightning had failed to strike the alien woman, it had accomplished another task, the collapsing of the Shield Omega that had protected the two Faeries. Poo then drew out his broadsword and charged towards the female Faerie. She quickly drew her own sword from a sheath over her back and she charged towards the psychic teen. The clash of their swords rang out over the din of the fighting on the ledge. The two combatants seemed suspended as they struggled for dominance in their fight. The Faerie gritted her teeth as she attempted to push back the mortal human adolescent. The human's strength surprised her, though, and soon, she realized that she was the one being pushed back. She quickly disengaged her sword from his and tried to use her speed and agility to her advantage. She swung around the teen and tried to stab him in the side. A slight movement of his sword, though, managed to knock her blade away. With blinding speed, Poo then stabbed the female Faerie in the chest. The thin sleeveless tunic that she wore provided little protection from Poo's blade as it bit into her flesh, tore straight through her heart, and emerged from her back. Poo withdrew the blade and noticed that there was no blood on it, merely a mist of dissipating energy. The dead Faerie fell to the ground, leaking wisps of gas or energy that Poo figured was equivalent to blood for these aliens. With the Faeries having been dealt with, he went over to check on Ness and Paula.

Ness and Paula had already finished their fight against the two Mega Borgs. All that remained of the robotic soldiers were metallic corpses with deformed and shattered heads. Ness grabbed the staffs that the Mega Borgs used and tossed one over to Paula. She caught it in one hand and then looked over towards Poo, who was already on his way over to see the two of them. She saw that Poo had handled his set of enemies and was putting away his sword. With the team reunited, they followed the trail over the rocky terrain, heading towards the top of Mount Itoi. Ness checked his map and saw that a cabin was pretty close by. He glanced back and told the team, "There's a cabin up ahead where we can rest. Do you guys need a rest or can you go on?"

"I'm okay for now," Paula answered.

"Are there any other cabins on the mountain?" Poo asked. He, too, felt okay for now, but he did not want to get bogged down fighting a lot of enemies since he and the others had used a lot of psychic energy in their last series of battles.

Ness checked the map and replied sullenly, "Nope. This is it until we reach the top of the mountain."

"Then we should rest," Poo decided. "We need to be at full strength for the rest of this journey. Giygas will send his most powerful remaining minions after us the further we get up the mountain." The others nodded in agreement.

Following Poo's advice, the trio followed the trail until they came to a small cabin a hundred yards away. Ness instantly recognized this cabin as having belonged to George back when he had gone to rescue Maria. The three psychics quickly went up and entered the cabin.

The interior of the living room of the cabin was sparsely furnished. There were two armchairs in the middle of the floor, a green table set up away from the chairs that had no chairs around it, and a telephone on a small stand in the right hand corner as the party entered. There was a man standing in the corner across the room. The man had short gray hair and wore a black suit. Ness approached the man while Paula and Poo waited near the door. The man saw the young teen approach and said, "Welcome to my cabin. There's a back room behind me where you can rest up before you continue on your journey."

"Is it safe here?" Ness asked, knowing that Giygas's forces could attack at any moment.

"I have yet to be attacked by any of the monsters outside," the man responded. "The monsters don't seem to bother me up here."

This comforted Ness a bit. Paula soon came up behind him, followed by Poo. "Is it okay if we rest here a bit?" Ness asked the man.

"Sure," the man answered kindly. "The back room is already set for travelers so you can have it all to yourselves."

Ness thanked the man and he and Paula went into the back room. "I'll wait out here and check up on Master and Star Master," Poo told them as he went over to the telephone.

Inside the back room, Ness went over to one of the two twin sized beds and flopped down on the bed. Paula came over to Ness and sat beside him. Ness looked up and saw Paula staring down at him.

"Comfortable?" she asked humorously.

"Yeah," Ness answered casually, which surprised Paula. Ness then sat back up and sided up next to Paula. The two then stared into each other's eyes. Upon gazing into Ness's eyes, Paula blushed.

"Um…Ness," she began. She then stopped, not knowing what to say, or even how to say what she wanted to say.

"What is it, Paula?" Ness asked, wondering where Paula was going with this line of questioning.

"Um…" Paula stammered for a moment before finally working up the courage to say something. "Do you like me, Ness?"

Ness's eyes widened in surprise. "Sure, of course I like you. You're one of my best friends," Ness replied somewhat awkwardly. Ness wanted to comfort Paula, but he did not know exactly how to say what he wanted to say either. The truth was that he felt something more than just friendship towards her. He just did not know what that feeling was, though. He did not want that feeling, though, to drive a wedge and potentially ruin the friendship that they had already established. Paula instantly blushed even more at Ness's answer. She felt a mixture of embarrassment as well as potential relief, for she sensed Ness's awkwardness in his answer but did not know what to make of it, and she did not scan his mind to find her answer. She would not do that to him.

"You don't think I'm a burden or anything?" she asked awkwardly, seemingly trying to change the subject, remembering all of the times that Ness or someone else had to rescue her.

"Of course not," Ness replied trying to cheer her up. "You're an invaluable member of the team. Without you, we would have been killed many times over on our adventures. Don't sell yourself short."

"I won't," Paula assured him. She then looked down at the ground. When Ness was focusing in on something else around the room, she quickly glanced over in his direction. _That could have gone better_, Paula thought, berating herself. She had intended to let Ness know in a roundabout way that she felt more than just friendship towards him and that she was hoping that he felt the same way about her. She then began to ask herself what, exactly she felt towards Ness. Was she in love with him? She knew that she was still a little young to be thinking about such things, at least as far as marriage went. Still, she knew that there was something between the two of them. She felt as if she needed to figure out what it was, and how it would affect things down the line. She would have been relieved to know that Ness was asking himself the exact same questions at the moment. The two then took slight glances over at one another at the same time, having tried to avoid letting the other know that they were looking. Their eyes met again and they simply sat there, staring into each other's eyes. It was Paula who eventually broke the silence.

"Ness," Paula said in a quiet voice. "I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Ness asked.

Paula answered, "Ness, when I look at you, a feeling rises within me. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's more than just friendship." She paused, taking in a deep breath. She was about to do it. She was about to confess her feelings for him. She exhaled slowly and decided to take the plunge. "I, um, really like being with you when we're alone and all…like we are right now," she said, smiling. She immediately stopped speaking and blushed. She pulled back for a bit and looked away from Ness. That had not come out the way she wanted at all and she knew it.

"I like spending time with you, too," she heard Ness tell her softly. She turned to face him and saw that he was now sitting right next to her, his face only a couple of feet away from hers. Her eyes went wide with surprise and a little bit of apprehension as he looked her in the eyes. "I really value your friendship," he said, trying to bring a lighter tone to the situation.

"And I value yours," Paula eventually responded with a smile. She stared into his eyes and leaned in closer to him. Soon, the two of them were holding hands. Their faces were inching closer and closer to each other. Soon, the kids parted lips in preparation for a kiss. Before they could kiss, though, the whole room shook. This snapped them out of their reverie and they quickly glanced around the room. The door to the room flew open and Poo came charging in.

"Hey, something's going on outside!" he blurted. "We'd better check it out."

Ness and Paula scowled. They had been so close to finally having a perfect romantic moment and it had to be interrupted by what was almost certain to be Giygas's forces. There would be heck to pay for whoever had interrupted them at that moment. Ness and Paula would make sure of that. The two gathered their belongings and proceeded to make their way outside the cabin, followed closely by Poo.

Once they got outside, their field of vision was filled with the form of a massive blue humanoid robot with a torso that looked like a trashcan that Poo recognized all too well. "Great," he muttered. "An R7038."

Ness did not care what the robot was, or that it strongly resembled an R7037. All he saw was the thing that cut short an important conversation and romantic moment with Paula. That robot would pay…with its life. Before he could launch an attack, though, Paula launched the first blow against the robot. She unleashed a massive volley of PSI Thunder at the blue robot. Her psychic lightning struck the robot and electricity arced across its metallic body. The impact of the lightning sent the robot staggering backwards a few feet. The rage in Paula's glowing eyes mirrored Ness's rage towards the robot. He extended his hand towards the robot and cried out, "PSI Rockin!" as he unleashed a ball of scarlet psychic energy against the robot. The ball of energy rushed towards the robot and struck the upper torso of the robot. The ball then exploded into a globe of scarlet psychic energy that engulfed the head of the robot along with most of the upper torso and parts of its arms. Once the field of energy dissipated, the robot's head was gone, as was its upper chest and the parts of its arms that connected them to the robot. The robot's arms fell to the ground with a loud clank while the robot fell backwards to the ground, its threat neutralized before it even had a chance to fire off a single attack at the party. After the robot's demise, both Ness and Paula smiled in satisfaction. They each glanced at each other and winked. Once that brief skirmish had concluded, they continued to follow the path up the mountain and towards Mount Itoi Lake. Poo examined the scene for a few seconds, his eyes wide at the rage and power that Ness and Paula had unleashed upon the robot. He then proceeded to run after them and catch up to the two.

At the peak of Mount Itoi, Giygas waited patiently for the arrival of either party. He had sensed the demise of the R7038 that had been sent to attack Ness and the others. He was not surprised that the robot had been destroyed. What surprised him was how quickly the robot had been terminated. He actually began to hope that Ninten and his crew would arrive at the peak soon. He wanted to deal with them before Ness and his friends could reach them or gain on them. He then brought his telepathic senses closer to himself. He grinned at the sensation. Ninten and his friends were coming. He turned towards the entrance to the cave. It would not be long before the quartet arrived.

A little further down the mountain, Ninten and his friends made their way past the familiar gravestone marking his ancestor's grave. They then came upon the entrance to the cave that led to the peak of Mount Itoi. They quickly proceeded to enter the cave with Ana and Lloyd taking point so they could get the drop on any groups of enemies that they would encounter.

After entering the cave, they encountered a group of Last Starmen, Starmen who wore yellow uniforms, similar to Starman Supers, but were not nearly as powerful. Upon laying eyes on the Last Starmen, Lloyd opened fire with his flamethrower. The flames inflicted a great deal of damage to the psychic aliens, but was insufficient to kill them. They retaliated by firing a volley of PSI Beam Gammas at the party. Ana stepped in front of the party because she wore a Franklin Badge variant that would protect them from the attack. Two of the PSI Beam Gammas were intercepted by her, and were reflected back at the Last Starmen, killing them. The reflected attacks did not dissuade the remaining Last Starmen from opening fire on the party, and Ninten and Lloyd each took a beam to the chest. The two humans instantly fell to the ground, dead. That still left Teddy and Ana for the Last Starmen, though, and they were not adept at physical combat, which Teddy was quick to take advantage of. He drew out his katana and bisected the two aliens with a single swipe. Before proceeding, Ana used Super Healing in order to revive Ninten and Lloyd. The two fallen heroes were each revived in turn and then rose to rejoin Ana and Teddy. The quartet then made their way through the cavern encountering no further resistance. They soon came upon the exit of the cavern and towards their encounter with the psychic alien, Giygas. They proceeded outside the cavern with Ninten leading the way, followed by Ana, then Lloyd, and finally Teddy bringing up the rear.

Outside, the four humans saw the massive alien vessel's spire poking up from out of the gorge, but their eyes were not drawn to the vessel. They were drawn to the figure standing at the edge of the cliff. The cat-like humanoid figure turned around to face Ninten and his friends, his eyes glowing a deep green.

"Giegue," Ninten said harshly, anticipating the upcoming battle.

"Ninten," Giygas said in return. "By the way, it's Giygas now," he added. "I was stripped of my rank when I left the Earth after the failed invasion of Earth so now I identify myself by my birth name."

"Why have you returned?" Ana asked forcefully. She held up her frying pan, pointing it towards Giygas.

"Why, for revenge," Giygas answered plainly. "I need to show my race that I cannot be defeated by a simple song."

"So you're going to kill us, and then the rest of humanity in the process?" Lloyd queried, targeting the alien with a plasma gun that he had built.

Giygas chuckled as he approached the four adult humans. "Yes," he stated in an almost humorous tone. "Humanity's days are numbered. I will soon see them all die."

"No, you won't," Teddy declared, pointing his katana at Giygas's head.

With that the human male charged Giygas. Holding his katana high, he attempted to bring down his blade onto Giygas's head. Giygas merely raised his head and a shield appeared over his body as his eyes glowed. The sword struck the shield and the shield flared for an instant. The sword, meanwhile, seemed to have been burned by the attack as black scorch marks marred the one pristine blade. Giygas then pushed out his hand and sent Teddy flying into his friends. The muscular human collided with Ana and Lloyd, knocking them down to the ground.

"Pathetic," Giygas muttered, appraising the situation.

Ana eventually rose, along with Lloyd. Teddy and Ninten ducked behind them as they unleashed a burst of PSI Beam Gamma and a blast of fire from a flamethrower at the psychic alien. Again, Giygas's shield held strong against the attacks. Giygas then stretched out his hand and the four humans noticed that lightning was crackling across his fingertips. Ana instinctively raised a PSI Shield Omega over the party. Her shield, in addition to blocking both physical and psychic attacks, could also reflect damage back at her attacker. Giygas soon unleashed the lightning he had been charging at the party. The stream of lightning struck the shield and was stopped, causing it to flare for a second, before managing to penetrate the shield and strike the party, albeit at a weaker level. The attack sent the four humans reeling backwards. Both Lloyd and Teddy, being normals, were unable to withstand the attack, and they fell to the ground with holes burned into their chests. This caused Ninten and Ana to crawl over to their fallen allies and use Super Healing on them. This psychic technique caused an energy field to form over the fallen humans. This field of energy immediately repaired their bodies and jumpstarted their brains once more. Within seconds, both Teddy and Lloyd rose again, revived by Ninten and Ana. Still, they knew that they were hurting now. Giygas had shown that he could attack them with impunity since none of their attacks could pierce his shield, while the same could not be said of his attacks. Even worse was the fact that Giygas was demonstrating far greater power than he demonstrated twelve years ago. Ninten realized that they only had one chance to win this. It was now that he nodded to the others. They immediately then formed a line in front of Giygas and walked towards the psychic alien. That was when they began to sing:

_Take a melody_

_Simple as can be._

_Give it some words_

_And sweet harmony._

Giygas then joined them, singing the second verse:

_Raise your voices_

_All day long now_

_Love grows strong now_

_Sing a melody of love, oh love._

As the song ended, Giygas stared back at the adults, grinning as he noticed the horror on their faces as he had sung along with them for the second verse. "Well, I guess that went quite well. For me," he said beginning to laugh.

Looks of horror crossed the faces of all of Ninten's team as they realized that their trump card was now useless against Giygas. "Damn," Teddy swore, "what do we do now? That song was our best chance of winning this fight."

Despite the sheer hopelessness of the situation, Ninten refused to give up. "We keep fighting," he declared in a loud voice. "And pray for a miracle," he added quietly.

The quartet was soon telekinetically drawn to the laughing Giygas. "I fear that that miracle will not come soon enough to save you," Giygas mocked as he then shoved them against the rock wall behind them. After they impacted the wall, leaving cracks in the rocks, they fell to the ground, dazed, bloodied and bruised. Giygas neared them slowly, taking his time. His twisted smile and snickering clearly indicating just how much he was going to enjoy this stomp. His snickering quickly became an outright laugh as he drew them towards him once more so he could play with them and torture them before the end. For the next few minutes, all Ninten and his friends knew was agony, physical, mental, and spiritual. Giygas showed no mercy, and spared nothing from them. All they could do was scream.

Meanwhile, Ness and his party had already passed the lake of Mount Itoi, encountering a group of Oh Mooks, which had easily been dealt with by a single Starstorm barrage from Poo. The trio was beginning to wonder why these minions of Giygas had been so weak compared to the enemies that they had faced three years ago. They would have figured that Giygas would have sent his strongest soldiers to stop their advance or kill them, not send down cannon fodder that died if they had looked at them strangely.

After passing through the lake area, the trio found themselves getting closer and closer to the peak of Mount Itoi. All that stood between them and the peak where Giygas was located were more cliffs, and likely more enemies. Ness glanced over at Paula once again, who returned his glance. "There are a lot of enemies located on these cliffs. From the few organic enemies that I could scan, we will likely be facing off against various robot enemies called Juana, Omega Borgs, Last Starmen, and…" she paused before grimacing. "Giygas is finally getting on the ball," she commented. "We've got a Starman Deluxe guarding the entrance to the cavern along with a group of Starmen, both normal Starmen and Starman Supers."

Ness grinned after Paula had given him the heads up on what they were going to face. Things were looking less bleak now. It seemed as if Giygas's armies had been decimated by the invasions of Dalaam and Twoson and the paltry forces that he had mustered around Mount Itoi were all that he had left for his invasion. It was possible that even if Giygas survived this battle, he might not be able to continue his invasion of Earth, in his eyes, due to the lack of minions. The psychic trio approached a clifface and proceeded to climb the vines that had grown along the wall. Upon reaching the top of the ledge, they climbed another vine in order to reach the top of the cliff.

Upon reaching the top, they were greeted by a quartet of Starmen in yellow uniforms. "So, are these Last Starmen or Starman Supers?" Ness asked Paula, turning to face her.

His question was answered when the Starmen fired a volley of PSI Beam Gammas at him. Paula tried to raise a psychic shield in time to intercept their attacks, but the first blast managed to strike Ness before the shield had risen over the party. The beam struck Ness and energy played all over his body as he fell over on the ground, unconscious, and possibly dead. Paula's shield had risen in time to intercept the remaining PSI Beams, though, and Ness and the party suffered no further hits, the shield glowing an opaque orange with each strike. Poo retaliated against the Starmen by firing a PSI Starstorm at the Last Starmen. A dozen blue orbs formed in front of the teen and as he stretched out his hand, the stars streaked towards the psychic aliens. The Last Starmen, not knowing how to raise psychic shields, were vaporized by single strikes of Poo's attack. After the stars had struck the enemy party, nothing remained of the party, and the area that they had occupied was now pockmarked with massive craters that were at least ten meters in diameter. And Poo had been holding back in order to conserve his psychic energy.

Following the skirmish, Paula rushed over to tend to Ness. She knelt down next to him and took his pulse. She could feel the thump against her fingers as she placed two fingers to Ness's throat. Good, he was still alive. That meant that he could still be revived by without having to use PSI Healing. She then pulled out a Secret Herb from her pocket and, after gently opening his mouth, placed it on his tongue. His mouth closed and he swallowed the herb. After a few moments, he began to stir and his eyes open, bringing an expression of relief to Paula's face. After he went to sit up, Paula threw her arms around him, eliciting a smile from the normally serious Poo.

"If I knew that this would be your reaction, I would have let myself get hit by more of those beams," Ness joked quietly to Paula. Paula's expression immediately hardened a bit and she playfully knocked him down again. "Just joking," he hastily added. Paula smiled again and she helped pull him up.

Once Ness had risen, he reached into his backpack and drew out a Secret Herb. He then handed the herb over to Paula, saying, "Thank you for helping me. You used one of your herbs to revive me. It's only fair for me to repay you with an herb."

Paula hesitantly accepted the herb and placed it in her pocket. The trio then proceeded to continue their journey. Along the way, the noticed more fallen enemies. The metallic remains of a Juana littered the path ahead. Ness figured that Ninten and his allies had been the ones to, in essence, clear the path for them. Up ahead, the path forked a little bit. One steep path took them higher, while one stayed on level ground, likely leading to a vine. Ness decided to take the steeper path in order to get up the mountain more quickly. The trio walked straight ahead until they encountered two Juana robots. The party did not waste any time raising a defense as the Juanas unleashed a duo of PSI Beam Gammas at the party. The Beam Gammas impacted the psychic shield that Paula had erected over the party and they were deflected away. Poo returned fire by unleashing a barrage of PSI Starstorm at the robots. As with the Last Starmen, the Starstorm barrage vaporized each Juana upon impact, leaving nothing but a large smoking crater in the ground. With that threat out of the way, the party continued on its way.

Not far ahead, the party saw another set of vines growing along the wall of a cliff. Ness checked the map, however, and saw that this vine growth led to a dead end. He then took the right and followed the trail a ways around the mountain, reading that they would come upon another set of vines that would take them to the next section of the path. Eventually, they came to a second dead end, leading to a steep cliff. The trio turned to their left and followed the trail until they came to the set of vines that would take them up to the next ledge. Next to the vine growths, however, they saw an opening to a cave that was not on the map. Ness turned back to the others and said, "That cave opening isn't on the map. Should we risk checking it out?" He did not want to take any needless risks if they others were against it.

"I see no problem checking it out," Paula answered casually. Poo also nodded, indicating that his answer would echo Paula's. The trio then headed towards the cave entrance and they went through.

The door did not lead to a cave, but to another part of the mountain. The trio found themselves on a narrow ledge against the mountain. They each hugged the mountain as they inched their way along the ledge. Ness noticed an unopened gift box to his right and decided to go over to check it out. He carefully walked towards the gift box, followed by Paula, who was still hugging the mountain wall, and Poo. When he arrived at the gift box, he leaned down and opened it. After pulling out its contents, he found that he was holding a Sea Pendant, a pendant that protected its wearer from Fire, Freeze, and Flash though Ness's Star Pendant was superior in that it fully protected him all of those and Paralysis at an even higher level, in addition to increasing his durability more than the Sea Pendant would have. He handed the pendant to Paula, who placed it around her neck, since she had already lost her Earth Pendant earlier, and the Sea Pendant was superior to the Earth Pendant. Once they were finished, they retraced their steps back through the door and back to the vine growths on the wall. The party climbed the vine growths and reached the ledge above. The party then turned to its left and they proceeded to make their way towards the cave that would take them to Giygas.

After walking a few steps towards further, they felt the ground shake, just as it had when R7038 appeared at the cabin farther down the mountain. Indeed, after a few more shakes, along with the stomping sounds that accompanied them, the party looked up at another massive robot. This one was painted red and extended both of its hands at the party.

"The Starmen call this robot an R7038XX," Paula informed the party. "This robot's even stronger than the R7038 we met at the cabin."

"Then we'd better take it out fast," was Ness's only response as he powered a ball of PSI Rockin Omega while Poo raised a Shield Omega over the party. The R7038XX was also quite fast on the attack, launching its attack before Ness managed to completely charge his ball of Rockin. The robot extended its right hand and a circle on its palm opened. A green beam of energy promptly erupted from the robot's arm and hurtled towards the party. The beam stopped just short of reaching the party, impacting the Shield Omega that Poo had barely managed to erect in time, and rebounded off the shield and straight back at the robot. The beam of energy struck the robot in the chest, creating a small furrow in the armor. The armor where the beam struck the robot glowed a bright orange, then yellow as the armor bubbled and melted, steam and smoke rising from the furrow. Eventually, the beam shut down, leaving a nice, round glowing furrow in the armor. Despite the power of the robot's weapon, its armor was quite impressive, since the robot only suffered external damage to the armor plate. Ness then responded by unleashing his ball of PSI Rockin Omega at the robot. This attack was a lot stronger than the robot's. Still, Ness wanted to be certain of destroying the robot, so he fired his scarlet ball of psychic energy at the damaged armor plate on the chest. The psychic energy ball struck the armor plate in the furrow that had been burned into it and it exploded into a blood red globe of energy. Ness shielded his eyes as the ball of energy exploded like a star going nova. After the attack dissipated, the entire head and upper part of the robot's torso were gone. Smoke rose from the remains lower torso as the remnants of the R7038XX's arms fell to the ground. The robot ceased to move, its primary control center vaporized by Ness's attack. The trio then proceeded to make their way past the wreckage of the R7038XX.

A little ways past the wreckage of the robot, the party came upon the rusted wreckage of a second robot. This one was of a different design than the R703X series. Ness thought he recognized the robot for a moment. Upon further inspection, though, he realized that he had not seen the robot before, but he could not help but notice its similarity to ADAM, CAIN, and ABEL. Could this have been EVE, the robot that George had been building when Ness arrived in his lab? If so, then it seemed as if EVE had come to a bad end. Still, there was little he could do right now. Still, he noted this location for further exploration once they obtained the Zexonyte and, hopefully, defeated Giygas. Ness figured that Jeff would have been able to repair and rebuild EVE.

The party then passed the wreckage and proceeded along the ledge until they reached another set of vines leading to a higher ledge. The party climbed the vines and on the next ledge, they found two Omega Borgs waiting for them. While powerful, though, the Omega Borgs were no match for Paula's PSI Thunder. Lightning erupted from her hands and instantly fried the circuits of the two robots. The robots fell to the ground, electricity arcing across their bodies and ceased to function. The trio then passed the scene and climbed another set of vines, taking themselves to a higher ledge. Fortunately, this ledge was unoccupied. The three psychics then followed the ledge along the wall until they found another vine which they could climb. The trio climbed the vine and eventually emerged on the final ledge.

In front of them was a gravestone that had George and Maria's names written on it. Past the stone was an entrance to the cave that led to the peaks of Mount Itoi. However, standing in front of the entrance were a quartet of Starman Supers, surrounding a Starman Deluxe. Paula glanced over at Ness and a dour expression crossed her face. "These are the real deal," she told him grimly. The Starman Deluxe peered out over his bodyguard line and noticed the psychic trio.

"I must say, I'm surprised you made it to me in such wonderful condition," he said sarcastically. "But I'm afraid that your journey will come to an end here."

The Starman Deluxe gave off a laugh as he powered his Starstorm attack. Upon witnessing the Starman power his signature attack, Paula raised a PSI Shield Omega over the party. Poo, not wanting to have a tennis match due to the psychic shielding over the two parties, decided to unleash a volley of PSI Thunder at the enemy party. Lightning arced around his fingers as he unleashed a blast of PSI Thunder Omega. Not wanting their master to sustain the brunt of the attack, the Starman Supers immediately formed a Starman shield in front of the Starman Deluxe and intercepted Poo's Thunder attack. The Starman Supers, while they did not have any offensive psychic abilities, were still able to defend themselves quite well against psychic attacks. The PSI Thunder Omega struck the Starman Supers, collapsing their PSI Shield Betas, and inflicted moderate damage to the aliens. The lightning even managed to strike the Starman Deluxe, collapsing his shield, but inflicting no lasting damage to the psychic alien. Lightning arced across their bodies and there were burn marks on their suits. Still, the attack was not fatal. The Starman Deluxe's Starstorm attack, however, was more damaging. The Starman Deluxe unleashed his attack on Ness and his party, a dozen green orbs of energy streaking at the human psychics. The stars were stopped a few feet away from their targets by the shield that Paula had erected over the party. The stars struck the shield, causing it to flare, and were sent back at the Starman Deluxe's party. The stars crashed into the ranks of the alien party and exploded, leaving behind several noticeable craters. Two Starman Supers were killed by the attack, their bodies vaporized by the reflected stars. A third Starman Super suffered critical injuries, losing an arm in the process, but was still alive after the rain of stars ceased. The fourth Starman Super was able to hide behind the Starman Deluxe, who took only a small portion of the reflected stars, and escaped with only moderate injury.

Ness's party did not give the survivors time to gather themselves, though. He and Paula immediately drew out Bombs, with Poo drawing a Super Bomb, from their pockets and pushed their activation studs. As soon as they activated the bombs, they tossed the bombs over to the crowd of Starmen. Being screened by the two surviving Starmen Supers, Starman Deluxe Alpha did not notice the incoming ordnance until it was too late. By the time he caught the bombs with his telekinesis, a few inches from his face, their fuses had run out and they exploded directly in his face, shredding him with shrapnel. The shockwave alone would have been enough to kill the Starman Deluxe, but that combined with the shrapnel was too much. The Starman Deluxe fell to the ground, silvery blood leaking from various cuts in his body. The two Starman Supers did not fare any better. The Starman Super that had been missing an arm was completely blown apart by the explosion and the other Starman Super, had been pelted with shrapnel and tossed like a rag doll by the explosion off the ledge. The fall alone would have killed the Starman Super, but the explosion and shrapnel had already killed the alien before he hit the ledge below. Before proceeding, though, Ness and Paula drew out the staffs that they had taken from the fallen Mega Borgs. They each pumped a few extra energy rounds into the body of the Starman Deluxe, just to be sure that he was dead. Once they were satisfied, they made their way into the cave's entrance.

Inside the cave, they walked straight along the path towards a light at the end of the tunnel. Looking at the floor, they noticed a few more Last Starmen lying dead on the floor, along with the metallic remains of a few Omega Borgs and a Juana. Poo noticed a strange stone lying at the feet of one the Juana. Ness came over and recognized it as a PSI Stone. He then told Poo about its effects and the older teen picked it up. After continuing along the path, they saw a light in the distance. As they approached the light, they were expecting one final encounter with a last line of defense for Giygas. Surprisingly, there were no enemies remaining. It appeared as if most, if not all, of Giygas's forces were either dead or wounded too gravely for them to be able to fight. Before moving on, the trio took stock of themselves and took out their PSI Stones. They each gripped their stones tightly and they could feel the psychic energy from the stones entering their bodies. They gripped the stones harder, squeezing out all of the psychic energy they could manage. Once the stones were drained, and the heroes psychic energy replenished, the stones crumbled to dust in their hands. Then, the newly rejuvenated trio walked towards the light, and exited the cave.

Outside the cave, they found themselves overlooking the peak of Mount Itoi. In the gorge in front of them, they saw the spire of an alien starship that had landed in the gorge. They knew that that ship held the Zexonyte that they needed so badly. The three began to run forward, but stopped when the familiar form of Giygas appeared directly in front of them, a grin twisting his lips. Ness and the others glanced around and found the fallen forms of Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy strewn around the peak. Ness scowled as he drew out his Legendary Bat and pointed it at Giygas. This prompted Giygas to laugh. "I knew that you would come to face me here," he told them, mockingly. "You need the Zexonyte to use the Phase Distorter in order to go to the future to find your friend." He then opened his had in front of them and showed off a meteorite piece that consisting of the material, Zexonyte. The orange mineral seemingly glowing in the evening light. He then casually tossed it over the side of the cliff and laughed. "You'll have to go through me first. And, as you can see, that will be quite difficult," he finished, indicating the fallen forms of Ninten and his friends behind them.

Ness gritted his teeth. "Poo, go and help Ninten and his friends. We'll need their help in dealing with Giygas." Poo nodded and rushed over to go help Ninten and the others. "Paula," he said, glancing over at her. She glanced over at him and nodded. "Let's take him," he finished.

Giygas laughed again. "You are fools. You have no idea what type of monster you're dealing with…but you're about to learn," he warned. The battle against Giygas had begun.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Giygas initiated combat against Ness and Paula when he stretched out his hand towards the two teens. A bolt of green energy erupted from his hands and lashed out at the heroes. Ness and Paula barely managed to jump away from the incoming energy attack. The bolt struck the ground and exploded, gouging a crater that was at least ten meters in diameter, throwing up a large amount of rocky debris. Ness and Paula each landed a few meters away from the crater, quickly noticing the massive hole in the ground where they had been standing mere moments earlier. They quickly focused their attention back on Giygas, who stared at them, grinning. What was more was that Paula was not able to identify that attack as having consisted of PSI energy. If anything, it was very similar to the beam attacks that the Starmen and Starman Supers used against them, only at a much higher level. Paula immediately used her psychic abilities to increase the offensive and defensive abilities of her party and she and Ness then quickly zigzagged their way towards Giygas, their goal, keeping his attention away from Poo and Ninten's party. Giygas grinned again as they charged towards him. He stretched out both hands and fired more green energy blasts at the onrushing teens. More holes were blown into the rock of Mount Itoi as the teens approached. Still, both Ness and Paula had managed to avoid the attacks, not having to put their increased durability to the test.

The teens soon entered melee range of Giygas and drew out their close combat weapons, the Legendary Bat for Ness and the Non-stick Frying Pan for Paula. Giygas was not worried, though. He had trained himself for close combat, knowing that humans could become quite capable hand-to-hand fighters. Ness swung his bat at Giygas's head, while Paula simultaneously swung at Giygas's lower abdomen. Giygas raised his hand and caught Ness's bat while Paula's frying pan struck a skintight shield that Giygas had erected over his body. The shield flashed an opaque green as the metal impacted the field of energy. Giygas promptly kicked Paula away from him while he jerked Ness's bat, pulling the psychic boy into range of a punch. Ness raised a shield over his body just before the Giygas's fist managed to impact Ness's head. The shield flared as Giygas's hand struck the shield. While the shield had managed to blunt the direct blunt force trauma to Ness's head, the impact still sent Ness flying backwards. He landed close to Paula, who was rising to enter the fray again. The two of them soon witnessed Ness's bat streaking their way. They fled the scene and barely managed to avoid getting speared by the baseball bat. The bat struck the ground and was embedded into the rocky ground, despite being a blunt weapon rather than an arrow. Ness quickly went over and pulled the bat out of the ground and checked on its condition. Miraculously, the bat was still undamaged. The two psychics then focused back on Giygas, while backing away, deciding to try to make this a ranged battle for the time being. The two began to fervently pray that Poo had managed to revive Ninten and his party and that they would enter the battle soon, since they knew that the two of them alone were no match for Giygas. Heck, they even doubted that had Poo been with them that they would be able to defeat the alien.

Meanwhile, away from the current battle, Poo worked fervently to revive the fallen Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy. He first went over to Ninten. He found Ninten lying on the ground with his eyes open, as if in unimaginable pain. He did not need to check Ninten's pulse to know that the man was dead. With that, he quickly got to work. Since Ninten was already dead, he knew that the Secret Herbs that he had been carrying would be useless. That left only one option, using PSI Healing Omega on Ninten. He utilized the psychic technique and a bluish energy field surrounded the fallen man and soon the energy entered his body. Immediately, Ninten's eyes opened and he began to rise. He looked up at Poo, not recognizing the teen standing over him. "Who are you?" he asked slowly, still seemingly in a daze.

"My name is Poo," he responded, anticipating Ninten's reaction. Ninten gave no reaction to Poo's name. He merely rose from the ground and examined the situation as best he could. He quickly caught sight of his wife, Ana, lying on the ground close to him.

He rushed over to her, away from Poo, and knelt down beside her. He searched for a pulse, but was unable to find any. Her open eyes that expressing unbearable agony, in addition to the hole in her chest, were all he needed to see. The last thing he had remembered before blacking out was unimaginable pain, physical, mental, and spiritual. He soon used the psychic technique he referred to as Super Healing on Ana, which was merely a more limited form of PSI Healing Omega, which only revived people from death. Immediately, her wound closed and Ana's chest began to rise and fall as she gasped. She rose quickly, writhing, almost as if she expected to still be suffering from Giygas's attack. When she realized that she was not only alive once more, but feeling normal, she looked around for her savior. She soon found her husband leaning over her. "Welcome back to the land of the living, lover," Ninten said lightheartedly.

"Oh, Ninten," was Ana's only response as she rose to her knees and pulled him in for a kiss. There, they continued to kiss for a few seconds before Ninten gently disengaged himself and told her, "This will have to wait. We've got a battle to win, here."

Ana nodded and replied, "Right," and the two then rose and went to check up on Lloyd and Teddy. Poo was already reviving Lloyd, so Ana went over to the fallen Teddy. Ana knelt besides Teddy and used Super Healing on her fallen ally. Immediately, Teddy's eyes opened and his chest began to rise and fall. He sat up and looked into Ana's eyes. "What happened?" he asked fuzzily. "The last thing I remember was…"

"Don't worry about it," Ana said, cutting him off. "Right now, we've gotta help our friends." She pointed over to Ness and Paula, who were currently engaged in a PSI battle against Giygas. While they had been holding their own, they were steadily giving ground against the massively powerful psychic alien. Still, Ness and Paula had been doing better than the four of them had done against Giygas. Knowing that it was still just a matter of time before they would not be able to continue the fight, though, Teddy rose and yelled, "Then what are we waiting for?" as he drew his katana and rushed over to attack Giygas, hoping to give Ness and Paula an opening to attack the alien.

"Wait!" Ana called after Teddy, but it was of no use, for Teddy did not slow down at all. All Ana could do was to raise her version of a Power Shield, which would reflect any attack, regardless of whether or not it was psychic back at the user, over Teddy and hope for the best.

Teddy held his sword high in the air and gave off a battle cry as he charged Giygas. Giygas turned at the sound of the cry and saw Teddy charging towards him. He smiled wryly at Teddy's courage, and stupidity. He extended his right hand towards the charging human. He let loose with a burst of emerald green energy. The energy blast struck the shield but much to Teddy's surprise, as well as Ana's, the burst of energy was not reflected. The shield glowed an opaque orange before it simply shattered into thousand of sparks. Giygas grinned. "Nice try," he mocked as he targeted Teddy, who had begun to zigzag towards the alien, once more. However, before he could fire a second blast at Teddy and kill him once more, hopefully for good by destroying his head, a cry of, "PSI Rockin Omega," was heard. He turned to his left and saw a scarlet ball of psychic energy hurtling towards him. It was already too close for him to be able to dodge. He tried to raise a PSI Shield Beta over his body, but it only managed to rise to its Alpha level before Ness's attack hit him and detonated, enveloping him in a blood red sphere of energy. Teddy skidded to a stop and immediately retreated from the expanding sphere of energy. He then turned and ran as fast as he could from the sphere of energy. It eventually stopped expanding and Teddy ran over to Ninten and Ana, who were staring in amazement, and no small amount of fear, at the power of the psychic attack that had just struck Giygas. Ana, being an energy sensor, could tell that despite the damage done to the rocks and the hole that would be gouged into the mountainside, that the attack was far more powerful than it appeared. It was only that the explosion was literally being contained by that shell and focused back against Giygas's shield and body. Had the attack shell not contained the explosion, it was likely that the entirety of Mount Itoi would have been vaporized by the attack, and a large part of Ellay would have been leveled as well. That one psychic attack had the same level of power as a large-scale nuclear bomb! Ninten merely watched the attack, his mouth agape. "My gosh," he stammered, "A human did that?" He was watching in utter disbelief at the level of power that had been mounted against Giygas by one person, a young teenager not even old enough to drive, no less.

The quartet watched as the attack dissipated, but before it had dissipated completely, they heard a cry, "PSI Starstorm Omega!" Immediately, a volley of blue orbs also hurtled into the scarlet sphere of energy. The others turned and noticed that it had been Poo, the older psychic, who had launched this attack. The orbs struck inside the sphere as it dissipated, and struck the ground around the figure of Giygas, who amazingly seemed to still be alive after the attack. Several of the stars also struck Giygas. The stars exploded violently after impacting either the ground or Giygas, himself. The explosions around Giygas were also quite powerful, at least as powerful as the strongest bunker-buster bombs, despite the limited damage done to the landscape. These attacks were soon joined by a snowflake of psychic energy from the teenage girl, who also wanted to get a piece of the action. The psychic snowflake streaked towards the blast cloud that had been formed from the explosions of Poo's Starstorm attack. Inside the cloud, the snowflake exploded, releasing a shower of smaller psychic snowflakes. This was the most concentrated of the psychic attack that Ana had sensed and while its blast radius was limited, its power against individual foes easily rivaled the previous two psychic attacks. She had instantly recognized it as PSI Freeze, likely at its Omega level, and it was far more powerful than the PSI Freeze at her disposal.

Eventually, the blast cloud cleared and Ninten and his friends stared at its center. It was not long before they saw a figure emerging from the center of the cloud. The four gasped in shock and horror as Giygas emerged from the center of the cloud. "Man, how the heck did he survive that?" Teddy called out.

Away from Ninten's party, Ness and his friends merely gritted their teeth. They had figured that Giygas would survive that volley. The only thing now was to see just how much damage they had done. Giygas walked out of the crater that had formed and the parties now had a clear look at him. He had definitely seen better days. There were black scorch marks on his hands and arms, and even across some parts of his torso. Icicles also covered parts of his arms and legs, but these were dripping water, so the groups guessed that their effects would soon wear off. At first, they had hoped that Giygas had been on his last legs, but his wry grin indicated otherwise.

"I must say, I'm impressed," he proclaimed to the allies that had assembled against him. It almost seemed as if he was congratulating them on how they were performing. "You are more powerful than any psychic I had ever faced before, with the possible exception of Maria. I never would have imagined that mere children would be able to inflict any real damage to be, but you did. However, this battle will soon end." He then used Lifeup Gamma on himself and instantly healed himself of all the damage that he had suffered during the attack. "You may be powerful, for humans, but you still have one fatal weakness," he told them. "Your lack of psychic stamina will be your downfall, for I have virtually unlimited reserves of energy."

Giygas then proceeded to power his signature attack. A green sphere of energy, almost identical to the sphere that Ness had powered, appeared in Giygas's left hand. "Try stopping this!" he cried as the sphere began to grow in size. First, it was the size of a grapefruit, then it grew into the size of a beach ball, and finally, to a large boulder. Giygas cackled as he cried, "PSI Special!" No one knew whether or not Giygas had powered it to its Omega level or not, but they feared that it was not at its Omega level. He then hurled the ball of Special down at the parties. Both Ness's party and Ninten's party came together to make a stand against Giygas's attack. Ness powered a ball of PSI Rockin Omega and hurled it at the oncoming ball of Special. The two attacks collided in midair and remained suspended there for a few moments. However, Giygas's Special soon began to push back Ness's attack. Ness pushed more energy into his attack, but that only slowed down the return of Ness's attack. However, Ness was not alone. Poo soon powered a barrage of Starstorm at its Omega level and hurled the stars at the ball of Rockin. Adding his own attack to the mix, Giygas's Special was once again suspended in midair. However, Giygas began to pump more energy into the ball, and it soon began to push back Ness and Poo's attacks. Eventually, their attacks were joined by Paula when she added a stream of PSI Thunder Omega to the mix. Lightning erupted from her fingers and struck the energy balls that were battling it out between Ness and Giygas. This stopped the progress of Giygas's attack and even began to push it back, but this would not last. Giygas added more energy to his attack and it once again began to push back against the onslaught of the attacks of Ness's party. Ness and the others could see that the massive ball of energy that had formed due to the combined attacks was beginning to destabilize. As a result, they pushed even more energy into the attack in order to try to push it away from them and closer to Giygas. While Ness and Poo added more energy to their attacks, though, Paula raised a PSI Shield Sigma over the party in order to protect them from the resultant explosion. Ana then picked up the slack for Paula by adding her own blast of PSI Fire Omega to the mix, since her PSI Thunder Omega was much weaker than Paula's by comparison. As a result, the mass of energy did not come much closer to the group, but it still moved precious inches closer to them since Paula was not there to add her own energy to the attack. After the shield had been raised, Paula rejoined the attack, firing off another volley of PSI Thunder Omega at the mass of energy. The addition of her attack finally suspended the massive ball of energy midway between Giygas and the party. It was now that Ninten, Lloyd, and Teddy took action and went to attack Giygas head on, while he was distracted by Ness and the others.

Ninten led the charge, holding his baseball bat high in the air. He was joined by Teddy, who had already drawn out his katana. The two of them were covered by Lloyd, who opened fire on Giygas with his flamethrower. The steam of fire engulfed the psychic alien, but his shield repelled the entirety of the attack without even glowing. Giygas quickly looked over to Lloyd and fired two pink energy beams from his eyes. The beams instantly burned two holes into Lloyd's chest, puncturing and collapsing his lungs, and emerging out his back, and blowing two holes into the wall behind them. Lloyd fell over onto his back, his eyes wide open in pain, coughing up blood. Ninten ceased his charge and went over to revive his dead or dying friend. Teddy continued the charge. He made it to Giygas and brought his sword down on Giygas's head. However, the sword struck Giygas's shield, causing it flare, and shattered into a thousand metal shards. This prompted Giygas to laugh, "That was your attack?" He then telekinetically propelled Teddy into the wall. The rock face cracked due to the impact and Teddy slid down the wall and lay in a crumpled heap, his back and skull shattered due to the impact.

After Ninten had revived Lloyd, he quickly went over to his second fallen friend and used Super Healing to revive Teddy once again. Ninten soon realized, though, that he was quickly running out of psychic energy. He was uncertain how many more times he could use Super Healing. As Lloyd rose, the two of them stared once more at the tremendous clash of energies in front of them. Their attacks had done some good at least. It had distracted Giygas enough so that he had lost control of his part of the energy mass for a split second. In that split second, the mass of energy had moved a few yards in his direction. After having dealt with Ninten, Lloyd, and Teddy, though, he had regained control of his part of the mass and was pushing back against the attacks of Ness's party and Ana.

The energy mass, however, had quickly begun to destabilize and the shell was beginning to crack. Once the shell shattered, though, the entire mass would explode, and if the explosion was completely uncontrolled, it would vaporize the mountain, and likely Ellay as well; and the cracks in the shell were already beginning to leak energy. Eventually, all the fighters realized that it was about to explode. Paula immediately added a second layer to the psychic shield that protected her party. Since Ninten and his allies were also close by, her adding a layer to her initial psychic shield also shielded Ninten and his party as well. Ana added her own layer to the shield. It was not as strong as Paula's layers, but she figured that every little bit would help. The wind was now blowing outward from the mass of energy that filled the space between the human fighters and Giygas. More cracks appeared in the shell and Giygas soon pulled away from the mass of energy. Just as he pulled away, it simultaneously exploded in a fury of light and sound.

The explosion practically disintegrated the ground beneath the mass of energy. The clifface that led to the gorge below also gave way and a large mass of stone fell down the cliff, to the bottom of the gorge. Ness and his allies were thrown into the wall by the force of the explosion, the psychic shield raised by Paula being the only thing keeping the party from being disintegrated by the explosion. The wall above the party did not have the benefits of the psychic shield that protected the humans, so when the wave of energy reached it, the wall cracked, split apart, and collapsed onto the heroes. Ness and Poo immediately raised a normal Shield Sigma over the group, canceling the psychic shield erected by Paula since the psychic explosion had passed. By the time the blast had dissipated, a large portion of the peak of Mount Itoi had been destroyed, with the fighters now occupying a burned out crater on top of a large mountain whose peak was now gone.

The rubble that buried the heroes stirred and then rocketed into the air. Stones rained down upon the side of the mountain, and even down the gorge that housed the alien starship. Ness and the others slowly emerged from the rubble, letting the rest of it collapse in on itself behind them. They staggered forward and saw Giygas floating in front of them where he had once been standing. He was bruised and bloodied, but the injuries looked superficial. They quickly vanished as he used Lifeup on himself. He then looked down on them and leered. "Not bad," he commented offhandedly, "not bad at all. But not good enough."

Poo quickly scanned Giygas for sources of energy and, sure enough, he sensed a psychic shield covering Giygas's body. Even from this brief sensation, he could tell that the shield was strong. The party quickly checked themselves for signs of injury. Ness, who had pumped a lot of energy into the psychic clash, was low energy and had sustained some bruises and cuts from the battle. He quickly took out a Mega Double Burger Meal and quickly chomped away at it. While he was recovering, Poo went over to cover him. However, he first alerted the party to Giygas's status. "Guys, Giygas has a shield over his body. I think it's a psychic shield, possibly a counter."

Giygas did not let the human fighters in on his secret, yet. He wanted to see what their reaction would be to another battle. He could sense that Ninten had used a lot of his psychic energy during the battle, as had Ana. He quickly took a scan of Ness and his party and found that they were in the same boat. The difference was, though, that they were a lot stronger than Ninten and Ana, despite their youth. Still, Paula and Poo had used a lot of their psychic energy, and Ness had pushed most of his remaining psychic energy into that mass during their clash. However, they were still capable of fighting Giygas, even though there was no logical way they could defeat the psychic alien. As for Giygas, he merely stood before the party, waiting for them to use up more of their energy trying to breach his defenses, which were already beginning to rise once more.

Poo was the first to attack. The human fighter drew out a broadsword and gripped it with two hands. He charged Giygas and brought the sword down upon Giygas, hoping to cleave the alien's skull or at the very least manage to draw blood from the psychic. Giygas caught the blade and cast a psychic technique called Darkness on Poo. Darkness immediately blinded Poo, who quickly seemed to stumble around in his newfound darkness. Giygas initially believed that Poo was now helpless since he was blind. Unfortunately, for Giygas, Poo had trained himself to be able to fight while blind. While he was not as good as he was when he could see, he was not helpless either. Giygas went to punch Poo when Poo swung his blade at Giygas and managed to catch Giygas in the abdomen. The blade bit into Giygas's flesh, bluish blood leaking from the wound. Giygas gritted his teeth and growled. Poo was not so helpless after all. Poo immediately used PSI Healing on himself and cured himself of his blindness. He then took another swing at Giygas. This time, Giygas was prepared. Giygas modified his shield, allowing it to block physical attacks as well. Poo's blade struck the shield and it shattered upon impact. Poo's gritted his teeth at the loss of his weapon.

"Guys, Giygas's shield can also block physical attacks," he called out, alerting the others to the new development.

Paula looked up at Giygas and upon hearing Poo's assessment of the situation, decided to use PSI Thunder on Giygas, since its secondary ability was to penetrate and collapse shields. Lightning crackled around her fingertips once more as she homed in on the psychic alien. She let loose with a blast of PSI Thunder at Giygas. The lightning attack crossed the distance between Paula and Giygas at nearly the speed of light. The lightning struck Giygas's shield, causing it to flare into existence. Unlike other shields, though, Giygas's shield held against the lightning attack. Paula added more energy to the attack to try to pierce the shield, but the attack was unable to penetrate. Giygas laughed at Paula's attack and called down, saying, "You'll need more power than that to penetrate my shield. My shield doesn't work like others. You can't phase an attack through it or disrupt it with psychic attacks. It uses its own energy to multiply an attack by zero. As a result, it is impenetrable. Enough attacks can force it to use all of its energy, but you don't have enough psychic energy left to use against me, which means this fight is over." Giygas paused and gave a sneer at the humans. "You may as well surrender now. It'll be less painful for you."

"Yeah, right," Ness replied in disgust. He quickly decided to try a different tactic against Giygas. While PSI Thunder might have been unable to penetrate the shield, he wondered if a psychic technique that caused status conditions would be able to get through. Ana was also thinking along the same lines. She cried out, "PSI Block!" in an attempt to block Giygas's ability to use psychic attacks.

Giygas merely laughed at Ana's attempt to block his psychic abilities. He promptly responded by frying her with a blast of PSI Thunder. Ana cried out as she was hit by the psychic lightning and she fell to the ground, lightning arcing across her body. He then turned to Paula, who had initially launched the attack on him, and struck her down with a blast of PSI Thunder as well. Paula did not cry out, though. Lightning arced around her body as she tried to absorb the energy of the attack and ground it, but the attack was too much. She, too, fell to the ground, though she was not in critical condition due to the attack. Paula opened her backpack and took out a packet of Life Up Cream. She poured the contents into her mouth and swallowed. She immediately felt her strength return to her body and she stood up again, ready to continue the fight against Giygas.

Meanwhile, Ninten was tending to Ana, using LifeUp to fully heal his wife to full health. The two of them then formed up with the others. Poo had launched a barrage of Starstorm Omega at Giygas's shield. Giygas remained motionless as the attack struck his shield and caused numerous explosions, each one looking like the blast of a tactical nuclear bomb. Still, Giygas suffered no damage. Giygas merely retaliated with a green burst of energy from his hand. The energy burst struck Poo in the chest and sent him flying backwards, a burn mark marring his chest. Where a normal human would have been completely blown apart, if not vaporized, Poo merely had that burn mark, something that could be healed with some Life Up Cream. Poo took out a packet of the cream and ate it. The scorch mark on his chest immediately disappeared and he felt as good as new, physically. Psychically, though, he was still fatigued. Still, he wanted to refrain from eating any of his Brain Food Lunches until he knew that they still had a chance of defeating Giygas. Back in the fight, Ana fired a PSI Beam Gamma at Giygas, hoping against hope that the attack would be able to score an instant knock out against the psychic alien. Unfortunately, the beam was absorbed by Giygas's shield, which showed next to no signs of strain at intercepting the attack.

Poo decided that it was best to scan Giygas's shield to try to calculate how much damage it sustained during each attack. He watched as Ness decided to try his new attack strategy on Giygas. Ness unleashed a PSI Flash Omega on Giygas. The green pulse of energy streaked towards the alien, who was quite content to let the attack hit him. The round blue pulse of energy struck Giygas's shield and exploded. The shield flared as the attack struck. The flash engulfed Giygas and quickly dissipated. Giygas merely shrugged off the attack, which indicated that the shield was "perfect" since Flash Omega was never a complete dud, Ness's attack a complete failure, and fired another blast of energy at Ness. Ness, however, was quicker on the draw and he managed to erect a shield reflect the attack. The energy bolt struck Ness's Shield Beta and it was redirected back at Giygas. There, the bolt of energy struck Giygas's shield, causing it to flare for an instant. Poo sensed that energy left the shield and it had slightly less power after the attack struck. Still, the difference had been miniscule. As if knowing what Poo was planning, Paula launched her own attack, PSI Freeze Omega, an attack that Poo knew the power of, against Giygas's shield. She generated the snowflake of psychic energy above her head and unleashed it at the alien leader. The snowflake struck the shield, causing it to flare once more, but did not manage to inflict any damage to Giygas. Still, the attack had done its job. Poo got an accurate reading on how much energy had been depleted from the shield, and it did not look promising. Poo had figured that he could use all of his Brain Food Lunches and they would not have been able to defeat Giygas. Giygas was just too powerful. Maybe if they had managed to meet with Ninten before the battle began, or had gotten more healing supplies that would allow them to regain their psychic energy in addition to their health, they would have a chance, but in their current condition, they would not be able to take down Giygas before they literally ran out of power. The best that they could hope to accomplish was to be able to take down Giygas's shield, but even that was not certain. And Giygas may well have merely raised it once more after they took it down. Poo went over to Ness and the others.

"So, Poo, what's the verdict?" Ness asked in between breaths. Despite having eaten a Mega Double Burger Meal, he was still tired, likely due to the fact that he had used up practically all of his psychic energy. "Can we beat him?"

Poo shook his head in a melancholy fashion. "No, not as we are," he replied.

"I suspected as much," Ness responded in a dark tone.

"We can't just abandon the mission," Paula blurted. "Not after we've come so far."

"I know," Ness said, punching the ground. "But we've seen Giygas's power. We can't beat him in our current condition. He's just too strong."

"And there's no way he's just going to let us get the Zexonyte," Poo added.

It was then that Ninten chimed in. "I think I may have a way you can get what you need," he told them.

"What's your plan?" Paula asked, hoping that Ninten had another trick up his sleeve.

"I know a psychic technique called 4th-D Slip. It's where I fade into another dimension and can flee from battle, reappearing wherever I want, within a certain distance. I can also take my friends with me. I still have enough psychic energy to use it a couple more times. At the very least, it could allow you to slip down to the valley where you can get the Zexonyte."

Ness considered Ninten's plan. It was risky, but there was also a good chance of success. Not only that, but they needed the Zexonyte. If they did not get that mineral, then their entire trip, and this whole battle against Giygas would have been meaningless. Eventually, Ness answered, "Sure, why not? We've got nothing left to lose."

Ninten nodded and the teams huddled close to Ninten. "Stay close," he told them. His eyes glowed and what appeared to be a doorway appeared in front of Ninten and the others. The teams then surged through the doorway as Giygas had had enough waiting and sought to end the battle with a blast of PSI Special. The green ball of psychic energy was launched from Giygas's left hand and struck the ledge above the gorge. It struck the area that Ninten and the others had been occupying just as he and the others had slipped into the new dimension. The ledge immediately disappeared as the emerald green ball of psychic energy struck the ground and exploded. Giygas examined the area to see if he had managed to kill any of the heroes, but he found no traces of any bodies. He figured that the technique had been successful. He then used his psychic powers and called his remaining minions for support. The Starman Super with the katana Giygas had given him earlier appeared, along with four Starmen.

"Starman Super, you and your squad are the only minions I have left right now," he told them gravely. "Ness and the others have fled this battle with Ninten's help. Ninten used a technique called 4th-D Slip in order to flee without being detected. It is a short-range technique, so they could not have gotten far. Search the entire mountain! I want you to find them now, and when you do, kill them. They were weakened in their battle against me so you should be able to kill them with relative ease."

"It'll be my pleasure," the Starman Super responded. Had Giygas been able to see the face of the Starman Super, he would have seen the sadistic grin pasted onto the Starman's face. With that, the Starmen spread out, with Giygas conducting his own search for Ness and the others.

Down in the chasm where the alien spaceship was located, Ness and the others were searching quickly for any Zexonyte that could be used to power the Phase Distorter. All of Ness's team searched diligently though the rubble for any sign of the alien mineral, praying that it had not been buried during the battle, or worse, destroyed. Ness turned over a rock and he soon found a large, glowing orange meteorite. His eyes flashed as he recognized the rock from his previous adventure three years ago as Zexonyte. It was a large stone, too large to fit in his backpack. He figured that it had to be quite heavy. "I found some!" he announced to the others.

Immediately the others came over to him and stared at the large, meteorite. "Yeah, this is it, alright," Paula echoed eagerly, remembering the stone's appearance from their last adventure.

Ness put his bat in his bag and he gripped the rock with both hands and lifted it up, using his psychic abilities to lighten the load a bit.

"Alright, job done. Let's get out of here," Paula said quickly.

"Wait," Ness blurted. "Before we leave, there's something else we should retrieve."

This piqued Poo's curiosity, as well as Paula's. "What?" he asked.

"Remember the wreckage of the robot we passed on our way to get here?"

The others nodded.

"Well, we should take it to Saturn Valley. Perhaps Apple Kid, Hannah, and the Mr. Saturns could refurbish it," Ness told them. "It would be a great help in our rematch against Giygas."

"You mean EVE?" Ninten asked, having overheard Ness's conversation.

Ness nodded.

"EVE was destroyed battling R7038XX twelve years ago," Ninten told them. "If you could fix her, that would be great."

"We'll have to get back up the mountain undetected," Poo told them.

"That won't be a problem," Ninten stated confidently. "I've still got enough energy left for another 4th-D Slip."

"But will you be able to get out of here should you be found?" Paula asked.

"Sure," Ninten replied. "I've still got enough energy for that."

With that, Ninten once again activated the 4th-D Slip power. Instantly, a dimensional doorway appeared and the team stepped through once more. The team emerged on the peaks of Mount Itoi. Incredibly, they were on the same ledge as the wreckage of EVE. Their joy would be short lived, though, because not too far away behind them, the Starman Super and his squad spotted them. Paula immediately sensed the alien presences and warned Ninten and his friends, "We've got company. You have to get out of here, now," she told them.

"But…" Ninten began.

"No buts," Ness finished. "You've been an invaluable help to us, and I pray that we can repay you somehow, someway. But we're their primary targets. This is your one chance to get away. They'll follow us. They know where we're going. They won't necessarily know where you are going should you teleport out of here now."

Ninten eventually saw the wisdom in what Ness was saying. He and his team then ran along the ledge, accelerating as Paula sensed energy surrounding them. After a while, they disappeared from sight, and Paula could sense where they had ended up. She prayed that they reached their destination safe and sound, though. Their teleportation had, however, drawn the attention of the Starman Super and his squadron.

"Master Giygas," he called in a loud voice. "I've found Ness. He's on the ledge below George's grave, next to the wreckage of George's robot!"

That was Ness's cue to get out of there with EVE. With his hands occupied carrying the Zexonyte, it was up to Poo to ensure that EVE was teleported with them. Poo stuck out his hands and made contact with the ruined robot. Once Ness saw that Poo was in contact with EVE, he ran to Poo and made contact with him and Paula. He then teleported away just as the Starman Super and his squadron had opened fire on them, gouging massive holes into the rocky surface.

"Damn," the Starman Super swore. "They got away."

"Then go after them!" Giygas boomed, his voice coming from above.

"Where did they go?" one of the Starmen asked.

Giygas was incredulous. He had earlier ordered the Starman Super and his squadron to attack Saturn Valley once the battle was over. This command had only been countermanded by his own command to help search for Ness and the others. "To Saturn Valley, idiot," Giygas replied harshly to the normal Starman. The Starman Super glared at his subordinate for his stupidity.

"What about Ninten and his friends?" the Starman Super asked, turning back to Giygas.

"They are of no concern," Giygas replied in a calmer tone. "They are no match for me. I couldn't care less about what happens to them. Ness and his team, however, are a threat. And if they find their techie friend, Jeff Andonuts, things could change drastically the next time I fight them. Now go!"

"Yes, Master," the Starman Super replied. He then bowed and teleported to Saturn Valley, leaving Giygas to plan his next step of Earth's invasion.

Ness, Paula, and Poo appeared in Saturn Valley just outside of Apple Kid's lab. The fully repaired Phase Distorter looked pristine. Hannah was outside, looking over the final product. She noticed Ness and the others coming towards them and called back into the small building that Apple Kid used for a lab, "Hey, Apple Kid, they're back! And they've brought something else, too."

Apple Kid rushed out of his lab and went over to the teens. He took one look at the stone that Ness was holding and gasped, "Amazing. You found a stone with that much Zexonyte?"

Ness and the others nodded. He handed Apple Kid the stone. The stone immediately fell to the ground, Apple Kid unable to hold it. Apple Kid leaned down and tried to lift the stone, but was unable to do so without assistance. Poo helped him and the two of them took the rock into the lab.

"So, how did your battle with this Giygas go?" Hannah asked. She noticed that they showed signs of being in a tough battle, but they were alive so that had to be a good thing.

"It could have gone better," Ness replied. "We escaped the battle once we realized that we could not beat him."

"Even with Teddy and his friends, he was still able to win?" Hannah gasped. "Man, this guy must be super powerful."

"He is," Poo stated flatly. "We'll have to get stronger if we want to beat him."

Hannah then looked behind the party and noticed the wreckage of EVE. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the robot.

"That's a robot that George, an occupant of Mount Itoi from the early nineteen hundreds made using PSI Alien technology," Ness answered. "From what I can guess, she was destroyed twelve years ago during Ninten's first battle against Giygas."

"She?" Hannah asked, not one to usually assign a gender to a robot.

"The robot was named EVE," Ness explained. "She was the strongest of the robots that George had built."

"Oh."

Apple Kid and Poo soon exited the lab. A smile was plastered on Apple Kid's face while Poo's face remained plain. Ness and Paula went over to Apple Kid and asked, "So, is there enough Zexonyte to get to Jeff's time?"

Apple Kid replied, "There sure is. It'll take a little while for me to get the Zexonyte out of the rock, but once I do, you'll have more than enough fuel to get to Jeff. The issue will be getting back, though. Even with the amount of the ore in the rock, there isn't enough Zexonyte to power a return trip. If you go, it's going to be a one way trip, unless you find some Zexonyte in the future."

"That won't be a problem," Ness declared. The fact that it would only be a one-way trip did not dampen his mood at all. The fact was that they had not seen or heard anything of their parents and family members. Chances are that they may well have been in the future as well. There was no sense in worrying about their potential inability to return to this time, though. They had a duty to help their friend, especially if he was trapped in a bad future due to Giygas's invasion, since the three of them were not powerful enough at the moment to stop Giygas.

Ness was about to follow Apple Kid into his lab when he heard a cry from behind him. He recognized the cry as belonging to Hannah. They rushed over to her and found her being held by a Starman Super with a sword behind his back. His right tentacle arm was wrapped around the girl's throat. Four normal Starmen stood behind the Starman Super and stepped out to meet the young teen. Ness glared at the robot as Paula and Poo joined him.

"Lay down your weapons and gear and surrender now or this girl dies!" the Starman Super declared.

"Don't do it," Hannah managed to call in between chokes.

"I really suggest you do as I command," the Starman Super countered evilly. "You can't cross the distance and kill me before I kill her and my PSI Shield Beta will reflect your psychic attacks back at you. And if you try PSI Thunder, I'll merely let this pretty little girl intercept the attack for me. Nothin' like a human shield to keep me safe. You don't want the death of this little girl on your consciences do you?"

Ness noticed that Hannah's hands weren't restrained, and that she was going for a small knife. He doubted that the knife would be sufficient to kill the Starman Super, but he also noticed that the Starmen had not disarmed Hannah of the laser pistol that she had inside her lab coat, either. These Starmen must have been idiots when it came to combat.

"Fine, you win," Ness said, acquiescing to the Starman Super's ultimatum in a melancholy tone. "We'll lower our weapons."

He then got out his Legendary Bat and dropped it to the ground. Paula did the same with her Non-stick Fry Pan.

"Good," the Starman Super cooed. But he did not notice that Hannah had the knife in her hand pointed back at him. The Starman Super then cried out, "Time to die, fools!" as he pointed his tentacles at Ness and the others.

Hannah immediately thrust the dagger backwards. The point of the blade stabbed through the suit and bit into the Starman Super's flesh. The wound was not fatal, but it was painful. The Starman Super screamed in agony and cursed at Hannah as she pulled out the dagger and stabbed him again him again, silver blood leaking from his suit. The pain caused the Starman to loosen his grip on the girl. Hannah immediately ducked down and performed a leg sweep, knocking the Starman Super to the ground, while simultaneously drawing her laser pistol from under her lab coat. Hannah then took aim at one of the normal Starmen and pulled the trigger. A scarlet bolt of energy erupted from the pistol and took the Starman in the chest, burning a small hole in the suit. Still, the Starman did not fall. She fired again, and again, and again. After four blasts, the Starman finally fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Paula and Poo had jumped out in front of Ness and fired off streams of PSI Thunder at the Starman Super and the remaining Starmen. Paula's PSI Thunder Omega phased through the psychic counter shield of the Starman Super, collapsing it, and struck the Starman in the chest. The stream burned another hole in the chest of the dying Starman Super and he writhed on the ground, finally dead, electricity still arcing across his lifeless body. The other Starmen fared no better. Poo's PSI Thunder Omega also blew holes into the three remaining Starmen. Hannah added her own fire to the mix, as did Apple Kid, who took some shots with a laser rifle as he emerged from the lab. Ness stayed back, ready to offer any support in the form of Lifeup or PSI Healing should it be necessary. After a few more seconds, the battle was over. The Starman Super was dead, along with his four Starman cohorts.

After the battle, Poo noticed a glint near the Starman Super and walked over to the corpses. He noticed the sword on the back of the Starman Super. He pulled the sheathed sword out from under the smoking body of the Starman Super and examined the weapon. He recognized the blade as being a katana. He also recognized the ornate hilt as belonging to the legendary sword that Poo referred to as the Sword of Kings. He pulled out the blade and examined the blade. Indeed, it was the Sword of Kings. It was said that this blade could channel psychic energy to increase its own cutting ability and its durability in battle. Poo immediately slung the weapon over his back. This sword would be a great replacement for the broadsword that he lost fighting with Giygas. Poo quickly rejoined the others near the Phase Distorter. Ness was checking over Hannah, making sure that she was uninjured from the battle. She seemed to be fine.

"Oh, Hannah, I almost forgot," Ness began, when he pulled out a paper that was signed by Teddy. He handed it over to her. "I got Teddy to sign this for you," he told her.

Hannah immediately took the paper and, after examining the autograph, jumped into the air, yelling, "Yahoo!" She continued to celebrate as she did cartwheels and danced. Ness then called over to her, saying, "Teddy also said that he's going to be performing in Twoson in a few weeks, so if you want to go see him, you can."

Hannah's face went aglow at the news as she continued to cheer. After a while, she calmed down and began to daydream of watching Teddy perform at the Chaos Theater in Twoson, hearts seemingly forming in her eyes.

Apple Kid then went over to the teens and told them, "It will take some time to extract the Zexonyte from the rock. You can either wait here and rest or take a look around Saturn Valley while I complete my work."

The trio thanked Apple Kid and they decided to go over to one of the novelty shops inside the Saturn Valley before resting. They wanted to see what else Saturn Valley had and if they could get some better supplies, just in case they needed them for when they went looking for Jeff. Ness went to the Saturn Department Store and bought a bigger backpack that could store more items, as did Paula, trading in her small purse for a larger backpack. Poo merely waited outside until Ness and Paula were finished shopping. Once they were done, they went over to a rest house where they decided to sleep for a few hours and get some much-needed rest for the upcoming journey.

Far above the Saturn Valley, Giygas looked down upon its inhabitants. He had witnessed the one-sided battle between Ness's team and the Starmen. He smiled when the Starmen had been killed. He knew that it would only be a matter of time until Ness and the others went into the future to save their friend, Jeff. He then scanned for Ninten and his friends. He found that they were located in the small town of Podunk, recovering from the battle. He smiled upon learning that they were okay. Excellent, everything had gone according to plan. He then focused his attention back down on the valley and noticed two humans, both young, working on extracting the Zexonyte from the rock that Ness had taken from the stones near his starship on Mount Itoi. He refrained from killing the two humans. They were no threat to him, even though one of them was a latent psychic, and he did not have the same lust for blood that his brother had. A chime then sounded from Giygas's side. He picked up a circle and pushed a button, letting the round disc float a few feet away.

"So, Giygas, your report," said the all too familiar voice of his younger brother, Googi, now Giegue. Giegue's holographic image appeared before Giygas.

"My forces were destroyed during the initial invasion, but I was able to deal with some powerful psychics, for a time," Giygas answered. "The psychics are using a time machine to look for one of their friends. It will take them several decades into the future at the very least."

Giegue groaned. "Why didn't you kill them?"

"Because they were powerful, and were able to flee before I finished them off," Giygas answered truthfully. "Even though I was able to defeat them, they were no slouches in either psychic or physical combat. If they had more technological support that could interfere with my powers, then the outcome may have been different. I did manage to neutralize the threat of four of the fighters," he said carefully. He did not want to lie to his brother by telling them that Ninten and his friends were dead. His brother was a powerful psychic and would be able to sense an outright lie. He decided to let Giegue draw his own conclusions from the statements, instead. "Two of them were psychics, one of them being a descendant of George and Maria," Giygas added while grinning sadistically.

Giegue grinned. He had apparently taken Giygas's statement of having neutralized Ninten's party as having meant that they were dead. Giygas's grin may have also had something to do with him coming to that conclusion. "Very good," Giegue congratulated. "The main fleet should be arriving in several decades as well, so there could be a convergence between the arrival of these strong psychics and us. Did you manage to find any traces of other psychics on Earth?"

"No," Giygas replied. "But I am continuing my search. With any luck, there won't be any."

Giegue frowned. "Don't get soft on me, big brother. You did good killing Maria's descendant. Don't screw it up by not being able to kill off her species when we come."

"I won't," Giygas growled.

"See that you don't," Giegue retorted. With that, the image disappeared. He wondered if Giegue knew that Giygas's fight with Ness and his friends had been a lot closer than he had anticipated it being. Ness was a definite threat to the PSI Lords, and if humans could produce more psychics as powerful as Ness and his friends, then the PSI Lords would have no choice but to destroy humanity. And if Ness and his friends remained alive, or appeared before the fleet arrived, then Giygas knew that he would have to deal with them, permanently. Otherwise, humanity would be annihilated, and there would be absolutely no stopping the final destruction of the human race. He took one last look at the two humans working on the Phase Distorter. He prayed that they would not be alive to witness, or experience, the destruction of the human race. Giygas then disappeared from the skies above Saturn Valley, retreating to the peaks of Mount Itoi.

Back down in Saturn Valley, Apple Kid had finished extracting the Zexonyte from the stone and he had placed the orange mineral into the fuel tank. He closed the tank and sighed, "There. All done."

Both he and Hannah proceeded to make their way to the rest house where Ness and the others were staying. Upon arriving, Ness came out the door, followed by Paula and Poo.

"Good timing," Apple Kid said cheerfully.

"So, it's done?" Ness asked.

Both Apple Kid and Hannah nodded. "Every simulation we performed says that the Phase Distorter will work," Hannah told them.

"Good," Paula said. "Now we can hopefully find Jeff."

A concerned look then crossed Apple Kid's face. "You all do know that this _is_ a one-way trip, right?"

Ness, Paula, and Poo nodded.

"Okay, just checking," Apple Kid said.

The group then headed over to the Phase Distorter. On the way, Apple Kid explained that all of the controls were basically the same as when Ness had used it before. He did caution the kids to not leave it out in the open, and to be very careful when they went into the future. Things could have greatly changed in several decades. He also noted that the Phase Distorter would reappear in Saturn Valley, and that they would have to search for Jeff. He handed them a scanner that would allow them to scan for Jeff's life sign. Ness told Apple Kid that he understood everything that he had told him. Paula and Poo also confirmed that they understood what Apple Kid had said as well. He also instructed them on how to operate the life sign detector. The group learned quickly and were easily able to use it.

The group then arrived at the Phase Distorter. The boarding ramp was already extended and the device was ready to accept its passengers. Before boarding the craft, Ness and the others took stock of themselves once more, just to make sure that they would not be caught off guard in the future. They figured that they were equipped enough to deal with anything they found in the future, short of Giygas. The trio then boarded the Phase Distorter. After the last member boarded, the boarding ramp retracted and the entrance closed behind them.

Inside the Phase Distorter, Ness took the pilot's seat while Paula sat in the copilot's seat with Poo sitting behind the two of them. Ness pushed a few buttons and the craft started to hum. The party figured that this was a good sign. "Get ready guys," Ness called out to the others. "Next stop, the future."

Outside, Apple Kid and Hannah watched the Phase Distorter power up. A hum issued from the machine that rose in pitch until it became steady. Hannah suspected that that meant that everything was working as it should. A field of blue energy surrounded the Phase Distorter as it rose a few feet into the air, its repulsors kicking up dust as it rose. After ceasing its ascent a few feet into the air, the Phase Distorter disappeared, a clap sounding as air rushed in to fill the void left behind by the Phase Distorter. Hannah then said a silent prayer for Ness and all of his friends for the success of their mission.


End file.
